Archaeologists discover 2,000-year-old 'gentlemanly' horseracing rules that allowed 'others a chance to win'

A more sportsmanlike past.
(Image credit: iStock)

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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"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.

Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.