Gaius Appuleius Diocles

Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104 – after 146 AD) was a Roman charioteer who became one of the wealthiest athletes in ancient history. He has been described as the highest-paid athlete of all time.[1]

Gaius Appuleius Diocles
Born104 AD
Lusitania, Roman Empire
(now Portugal)
Diedafter 146 AD
Praeneste, Roman Empire
(now Palestrina, Italy)
NationalityRoman
Career winsFirst place, 1,462


Early life and career in Rome

Gaius Appuleius Diocles was born in 104 AD in the Roman province of Lusitania (now Portugal). He made his racing debut in Rome at the age of 18, in 122 AD with the racing stable known as the Whites, but did not win a race until two years later.[2][3]

Diocles usually raced four-horse chariots ( quadrigae), probably at Rome's Circus Maximus.[2] According to David Matz, the "great majority" of his wins were in the singles races, which may have been the most popular race-types both for drivers and spectators; drivers competed for themselves, rather than their team, making a win the result of individual talent and luck. Diocles is also notable for owning a ducenarius, a horse that had won at least 200 races. An inscription made in Rome during his lifetime (CIL 6.10048 = ILS 5287) and another in Praeneste after his retirement there (CIL 14.2884) are the sole records of his existence and career. They show that in his 24 years of racing, he won 1,462 of the 4,257 four-horse races he competed in, and was placed in an additional 1,438 races (mostly finishing in second place). He won the most prestigious race of the day, following the ceremonial opening procession (pompa), 110 times. His self-publicity and very detailed track record remain an essential source for reconstruction of the conduct and techniques of Roman chariot racing.[4][5][6]

Diocles had an unusually long career for a charioteer, racing for 24 years and representing three of the four most famous chariot racing stables (factiones) in Rome, which were known by their racing colours (Reds, Whites, Blues, and Greens). He began with the Whites at the age of 18; after six years, he switched to the Greens, during which time he sustained some kind of injury on the race-track; Diocles' track record with the Greens was poor. David Metz suggests that believes that Diocles might have somehow offended the Green team management, who punished him by restricting his opportunities, denying him use of their best horses. He left the Greens after only 3 years, and raced 15 years for the Reds before retiring to the small but opulent town of Praeneste at the age of 42.[3][7] His death date is unknown.

Winnings

His winnings, as recorded in Roman inscription CIL 6.10048, totalled 35,863,120 sesterces, over a working life of 24 years. From this, he would have been paid an unknown sum by his management team, or his owners; his status as slave or free is not certain, nor is the likely amount of his total share. Peter Struck asserts that Diocles' income from prize money during his working life makes him the highest paid athlete of all time. [1]Golden believes that Diocles' winnings would have been thought "significant" in Rome [8]

Status

The races were discretely organised, financed and managed "behind the scenes" by investors of equestrian and senatorial class. Diocles was an exemplar of what Sinclair Bell describes as Rome's "performance culture" but was at best a low-class citizen. His earnings would have been more than enough to qualify him for membership of the equestrian or senatorial orders, but his profession excluded him from both, as someone socially and morally disgraceful or "infamous". Openly competing for money was disgraceful in itself, and making a living from it would have compounded the disgrace, excluding him from many of the privileges and protections of full citizenship, and from holding any public office. Others in this category included actors, prostitutes, auctioneers, gladiators, butchers and funeral directors.[9][10]

See also

References
  1. Struck, Peter T. (2 August 2010). "Greatest of All Time". Lapham's Quarterly. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  2. Scanlon, Thomas Francis (2014). Sport in the Greek and Roman Worlds: Greek athletic identities and Roman sports and spectacle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 300. ISBN 9780198703778.
  3. McManus, Barbara F. "Charioteers and Racing Factions". www.vroma.org.
  4. David Stone Potter (1999). Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire. University of Michigan Press. pp. 296–. ISBN 978-0-472-08568-2.
  5. McElduff, Siobhán, Spectacles in the Roman World, Online Sourcebook, includes CIL 6.10048, retrieved 14 April 2022
  6. Golden, Mark (2004). Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24881-7.
  7. Matz, David, Ancient Roman Sports, A - Z, Athletes, Venues, Events and Teams, McFarland, 2019, ISBN 13978-1476671697, pp. 15-17
  8. Golden 2004, p. 164.
  9. Bell, Sinclair W., "Roman Chariot-Racing: Charioteers, Factions, Spectators", in P. Christesen and D. Kyle (Editors), Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity, January 2014, pp.492-504, DOI:10.1002/9781118609965.ch33
  10. His possible status and changes of team contracts are discussed in Teeter, Timothy M. “A Note on Charioteer Inscriptions.” The Classical World, vol. 81, no. 3, 1988, pp. 219–21, https://doi.org/10.2307/4350165. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.
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