Takedown Report

2,400-year-old grave of possible ancient pro wrestler discovered in Turkey

A tomb excavated in Aspendos, Turkey, revealed a skeleton buried with several coins featuring ancient wrestlers.
Archaeologists excavating near the ancient town of Aspendos in Turkey have discovered the grave of a person who may have been a pro athlete over two millennia ago.
“Coins with depictions of wrestlers and other artifacts found in the tomb indicate that the person buried here may have been involved in sports, perhaps even a wrestler,” Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkey’s minister of culture and tourism, said in a translated statement Monday (Aug. 10).
The archaeologists found the skeleton and artifacts in a box-style sarcophagus made of stone slabs while digging in one of the cemeteries outside Aspendos. The tomb likely dates to between 475 and 300 B.C., during the city’s Classical period, according to the statement.
Aspendos was a Greco-Roman city in southwest Turkey, roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The city was founded by Greek colonists in the fifth century B.C. and quickly rose to prominence as a trading center for salt, olive oil, wood and horses. Aspendos had a large Greek gymnasium as well as a large stadium that was erected in the second century A.D. and could hold up to 8,000 spectators who watched footraces, javelin contests and wrestling.
The ancient sport of wrestling is linked to Aspendos primarily through the city’s coinage. … more at … https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/2-400-year-old-grave-of-possible-ancient-pro-wrestler-discovered-in-turkey?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

August 12, 2026 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized