Ancient Wrestling Match Was Fixed

[Still Waters]

Who says only modern-day pro wrestling is fake?

Researchers have deciphered a Greek document that shows an ancient wrestling match was fixed. The document, which has a date on it that corresponds to the year A.D. 267, is a contract between two teenagers who had reached the final bout of a prestigious series of games in Egypt.

http://www.livescien...-was-fixed.html

[Skep B]

It's still real to me damnit!

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

plus ca change ...

[Jyre Cayce]

I knew it, I lost ten clam shells on this match! it was rigged!

Edited April 19, 2014 by Jyre Cayce

[MissJatti]

whats next....the discovery of the gladiatorial games of ancient rome was also fake too.. ??

a contract was made up, to decide who would get stabbed and die??

[McFakename]

2000 year old WWE

[BadChadB33]

Wow Don King is older than I thought.

[ancient astronaut]

Vince McMahon must be 2500 years old.

Edited April 20, 2014 by ancient astronaut

[Duchess Gummybuns]

I knew it! It was all of those performance-enhancing drugs that have bee-Oh, wait. This is about bribery. Nevermind, folks. Move along.

[Sundew]

It called human nature, it was going on then, it goes on now, big surprise. From the ancient games to the Black Sox to the use of steroids, the more things change the more they stay the same. Or as Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

[lightly]

whats next....the discovery of the gladiatorial games of ancient rome was also fake too.. ??

a contract was made up, to decide who would get stabbed and die??

lol. "i'll give you 1000 Aureus right AFTER you die in the match" .... ummm 1500 ?

but.. that probably really could have happened , to provide for his family.. if the guy was hopelessly in debt .. or something. ?

[CJ1983]

Should this really be a surprise?

[Peter B]

Should this really be a surprise?

Perhaps not. But it's nevertheless an interesting insight into the minds of the people at the time.

If nothing else, it was an...interesting period of history. The Roman Empire was in turmoil. Seven years earlier a Roman army had been defeated by the Persians, leading to the capture of the Emperor Valerian (the only Roman Emperor to be captured in battle), and the provinces of Gaul, Britannia and Germania had become the independent Gallic Empire of the "Emperor" Postumus.

The Romans were saved from disaster at the hands of the Persians by Odenathus, the king of Palmyra, an oasis trading city near the Persian border. Odenathus's army defeated the Persians, and the Palmyrans soon extended their control over much of the eastern lands of the Roman Empire, including Egypt. Odenathus was then killed in 266, the year before the contract mentioned in the OP. While Odenathus was nominally succeeded by his son Vaballathus, the real power was held by Odenathus's widow, the formidable Zenobia.

So at the time the contract was drawn up, Egypt was essentially being ruled by one of the most powerful woman in the Western World since, well, Cleopatra.