Inscription Praising Ancient Wrestler Found in Turkey

MERSIN PROVINCE, TURKEY—Artnet News reports that a 13-line inscription honoring a wrestler named Kaikilianos has been found on a stone base in the ancient port of Anemurium, a city founded by the Phoenicians on Turkey’s southern coastline in the first century B.C. The base, which may have once supported a statue of Kaikilianos, was unearthed at the site’s Harbor Bath, where a Roman-period statue was discovered last year, according to archaeologist Mehmet Tekocak of Selçuk University of Konya. He said that the Greek text praises Kaikilianos for winning a wrestling competition held in the city every five years. The competition was organized by someone named “Flavianus,” and was the second one to take place, he added. To read about gladiatorial combat in ancient Anatolia, go to "Let the Games Begin."