“I’m Spanish, what do you want me to beat you at?” In the last two decades, this phrase has become popular due to the good work of our sportsmenThe football team, winner of a World Cup and three European Cups; the 26 Grand Slam won by Rafa Nadal and Carlitos Alcaraz; the multitude of medals in basketball; Fernando Alonso’s F1 world championships… the list is long and varied. But an equally excellent case, although buried by centuries of history, is that of Gaius Apuleius Diocles.
We move to the Roman Empire, specifically to the city of Emerita Augusta, today’s Mérida. There Gaius Apuleius Diocles was born (traditionally his birth was placed in Lusitania, today Portugal, but the latest research seems to place it in present-day Extremadura), The best charioteer in history and considered the highest paid athlete of all time. This last fact may be surprising given the multi-million dollar contracts currently signed by world sports stars. But we will get to that in a moment.
Chariot races
First, we must briefly explain what the sport practiced by Gaius consisted of. It was the chariot racingalso called quadrigas, and were the favorite entertainment of the Romans, even more so than gladiator fights. Without going any further, we must not forget that the Circus Maximus in Rome could hold more than 150,000 spectators, compared to the Colosseum’s 65,000 seats. The reason for this is most likely related to the fact that races – despite what it may seem at first glance – were much more dangerous that the fights. It is worth remembering that gladiator fights did not end in death as often as Hollywood films have shown us. It was very expensive to train and maintain a fighter, so the organizers of the fights took great care to protect their investments as much as possible.
As we said, the situation was different with chariot races, where it was very common for both drivers and horses to suffer spectacular accidents, which often ended in death. This circumstance makes the sporting career of our protagonist exceptional. In fact, Gaius Apuleius Diocles enjoyed a singularly long career, which began at the age of 18 and lasted until the age of 42. Almost a quarter of a century running.
A record-breaking record
Chariot racing was the equivalent of today’s Formula 1. What we call racing teams today was called factionsand just as today, each had its own sponsors, managers, engineers and charioteers. There were four teams: the green, the blue, the white and the red. The races lasted seven laps, which in the Circus Maximus – the longest circuit – translated into approximately one mile.
Cayo’s statistics in the circus were impressive. Throughout his career, he ran 4,257 races. In them, He achieved 1,462 victories, which is more than a third of triumphs in the races he took part in. Sources tell us that more than a third of these victories were achieved with a relaxed start and then overtaking all his rivals. With this racing style, Cayo avoided possible accidents in the first laps and then recovered. In addition to his victories, the Spanish charioteer accumulated another 1,438 second or third places. Only in 31% of the races did he not get on the podium.
The highest paid athlete in history
Neither Leo Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo. Neither Michael Jordan nor Lebron James. Neither Roger Federer nor Tiger Woods. None of them can even come close to surpassing Gaius Apuleius Diocles when it comes to earnings.
The fact that the first three finishers in the races received a cash prize, together with the longevity of his career, explains the immense fortune that Cayo amassed. According to estimates, the charioteer from Extremadura pocketed no less than 1.5 billion of today’s euros.
We do not know when or under what circumstances Gaius died, but we do know that he retired to the small town of Palestrina in the Italian region of Lazio. He probably enjoyed a long and peaceful retirement, swimming in his millions of sesterces.
