A tablet discovered in Turkey on Monday proves that 2,000 years before American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, people believed there was more to winning than, well, winning.
Archaeologists have found ancient horseracing rules written on a slab uncovered in the Beyşehir district of the Central Anatolian province of Konya. The tablet appears to have been part of the Lukuyanus Monument, which honored an ancient Roman jockey. Hittites are thought to have erected such monuments and considered them holy.
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"There are horseracing rules on the tablet. It 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," Professor Hasan Bahar of Selçuk University told Hurriyet Daily News. "In this way, others were given a chance to win. This was a beautiful rule, showing that unlike races in the modern world, races back then were based on gentlemanly conduct."
Lakers, Packers, and Yankees fans, take note.
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