Stone tablet reveals 2000-year-old racing rules

A 2,000-year-old tablet was uncovered in the Beyşehir district of the Central Anatolian province of Konya (Turkey).  Being part of the Lukuyanus Monument, the tablet was apparently built to honour a jockey named Lukuyanus, who died at an early age in the Pisidian era. The discovery was made on the site of an ancient hippodrome.

Stone tablet with an inscription on racing rules (by Hurriyet Daily News)
Stone tablet with an inscription on racing rules (by Hurriyet Daily News)

The tablet refers to a Roman jockey named Lukuyanus. The tablet contains horse-racing rules. t says that if a horse comes in first place in a race it cannot participate in other races, while another horse of the winning horse’s owner also cannot enter another race. In this way, others were given a chance to win. The artefact is probably the oldest one describing the rules of horse racing.

Lukuyanus Monument containing the inscription (by Hurriyet Daily News)
Lukuyanus Monument containing the inscription (by Hurriyet Daily News)

(after Hurriyet Daily News)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.