Ancient Wrestler Inscription Found in Türkiye –

Excavations at the ancient city of Anemurium (now Anamur in southern Turkey) unearthed a complete 13-line Greek inscription dedicated to the wrestling champion. Dating to the 2nd century AD, it is the first complete inscription found at Anemurium.

The inscription, engraved on a marble base 42 inches high and 20 inches wide, was found at the Harbor Bath, one of the city’s four famous public baths. The dedication mentions Flavianus, the organizer and sponsor of athletic competitions held every five years. In the second game, an athlete A man named Kaikilianos won the adult wrestling category. He didn’t just win a gold medal or a first place award at these local competitions. His victory was so remarkable that inscriptions were erected in his honor, carved on altars or, more likely, on the bases of statues. Its placement in a public bath, a center of society, culture and sport, suggests that the winning wrestler was a man of great prestige and popularity.

Kaikilianos (Caecilianus in Latin) was a popular name in Asia Minor and North Africa during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, appearing in dozens of inscriptions. Funerary inscriptions and dedications mention members of the famous Caecilian family who served as magistrates and priests (traditional Roman and early Christian), and more commonly their freedmen adopted the surname after the Emancipation.

The name of Flavinus is also widely known. In fact, an inscription found at Oinoanda, less than 250 miles west of Animurium, mentions Lucius Septimius Flavinus Flaveli. Janus (Lucius Septimius Flavianus Flavillianus), he was a champion in wrestling and taekwondo (a mindless boxing sport). He had been a champion in these sports from his youth, and his skill in these battle arenas made him a successful military recruiter after joining the Roman army. There is also a statue dedicated to him in the city’s bazaar. There is no evidence whatsoever that this Flavianus was connected to the sponsors of the Animurem Games, other than the sheer coincidence that the same sport was mentioned in the dedication of the statue, and that they both lived in the third century, but it’s a Pure chance.

[Excavation leader Mehmet] Tekocak points out that previous inscriptions indicate that Anemulim was a center for the training of ancient athletes. “We know that athletes here competed and won prizes in national and international competitions. So, in addition to being a port city on the eastern Mediterranean trade routes, Anemrem was also likely an important center for the training of ancient athletes.”