Archaeology & History

Ancient horse racing rules found in Turkey

By T.K. Randall
May 3, 2016 ·  12 comments

Horse racing in ancient Turkey had its own unique set of rules. Image Credit: CC BY 1.0 Daderot The ancient Turks were known for their love of horse racing and now, thanks to the translation of an ancient tablet within the ruins of the Lukuyanus monument - an old stadium in Turkey's Konya province - it turns out that they were particularly sporting about the whole thing too.

According to the tablet, when a competitor won a race he was then forbidden from participating in any other races - a rule put in place to give other jockeys a chance at winning.The winner was even forbidden from entering any horses at all in to any subsequent race.

What an ancient tablet tells us about horse racing in the Roman Empire https://t.co/UJPlgA7iDY #NewsFromElsewhere

— BBC Monitoring (@BBCMonitoring) May 2, 2016

"This was a beautiful rule, showing that unlike races in the modern world, races back then were based on gentlemanly conduct," said Professor Hasan Bahar from Selcuk University.

Source: BBC News | Comments (12)

Tags: Turkey, Horse Racing