Inscription in Anatolia Explains Racing Rules

KONYA, TURKEY—Rules for horse racing have been translated from a 2,000-year-old stone monument in central Anatolia. Written in Greek, the rules state that a horse that finishes first in a race cannot compete in another race, and an owner whose horse finishes first cannot enter another horse in additional races. The monument, located near a hippodrome, was dedicated to Lukuyanus, according to a report in The Daily Sabah. “Lukuyanus was a Roman jockey, and this structure here shows this was a place dedicated to horse racing and horse breeding," Hasan Bahar of Selçuk University explained. "Hittites used to build monuments here in a tribute to the mountains they deemed holy and we believe horse racing was a dedication to those holy mountains as well in the Roman era.” To read more about equine-related archaeology, go to "The Story of the Horse."