Sports historians have developed a general understanding that the origins of sports activities lie rooted in the cults of antiquity. More specifically, it can be seen that ancient religious customs and festivals in honor of fertility goddesses were transformed into sports activities in which women figured prominently. Throughout the Mediterranean basin, cults of the Earth Mother (Magna Mater, Gaia, Isis, Demeter) were closely associated with fertility and agriculture. Festivals held in honor of these goddesses involved singing, acrobatic dancing, and racing. Women, as devotees of these deities, were the major participants in bare-foot fertility races, ball games, and cult rituals, which later developed into nonreligious folk games. It would thus seem that women's contributions to the development of sports and games were more important than previously acknowledged by scholars. (MB)