According to the annual rankings made by Forbes magazine, the best athlete in the world, Lionel Messi, would already have more than US $ 1,500 million in a safe. And a list of sponsors that's longer than a sheet.
But he is not the active (or retired) athlete who earned the most money.
Diocles was the most glorious charioteer in history.
The list is headed by golfer Tiger Woods, who totals 2,500 million dollars and behind him are staggered Cristiano Ronaldo, Floyd Mayweather, LeBron James and Messi.
All billionaires, but far from the athlete who accumulated the most money in history. Who is it? He won't laugh if I tell him that his best performances were in the year 100.
The best athlete in history?
This is Gaius Apuleius Diocles. He was born in 104 in Augusta Emerita, capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. If today we wanted to locate this territory we should say that it would cover most of the current Portugal and an area of Spain, mainly Extremadura and the province of Salamanca.
A 2000-year-old inscription dedicated to him.
And a man who lived 2000 years ago is the athlete who earned the most money in history? There is only a resounding yes answer. Diocles was the most glorious charioteer in history.
Ben-Hur (3/10) Movie CLIP - The Chariot Race (1959) HD
What sport is that? If you watch the movie Ben-Hur, a classic directed by William Wyler in 1959, you will observe a famous four-horse chariot race. A similar chariot was used by the incredible Diocles, who participated in 4,257 races and won 1,462 of them. And he was second in another 1,438. An unparalleled record.
The Circus Maximus of Rome as it was 2000 years ago (above) and as it is today. It could hold 250,000 people.
The competitions were held in the Circus Maximus of Rome, next to the Colosseum that currently preserves the remains of a race track similar to a racecourse of the current ones. With a not minor detail: it could accommodate 250,000 spectators.
During the 24 years that his career lasted, Diocles made the masses go crazy with his final sprints, climbing positions in the last meters, to end up subduing his adversaries. His qualities and fame made him a rich and powerful man, a true tycoon of his time.
Rome was mad for him
What we know of Diocles' life is based on inscriptions on various monuments. One was found in Nero's Circus, which was located in the current Vatican.
This is how the inscription announcing his retirement from the sport says: "Cayo Apuleius Diocles, charioteer of the red faction, of Lusitanian Hispanic nation, with 42 years, 7 months and 23 days. He first ran in the white faction, being consuls Acilius Aviola and Cornelius Pansa (122 AD). He won for the first time in the same faction being consuls Manius Acilius Glabrion and Gaius Belicius Torquatus (124 AD). He first ran in the green faction being consuls Torcuato Asprenate and Anio Libón (128 AD). He won for the first time in the red faction being consuls Lenas Pontian and Antonio Rufino (131 AD). He drove quadrigas for 24 years."
Another inscription dedicated to Gaius Apuleius Diocles.
In times of the Roman Republic there were two teams,as if it were a River – Boca. They were red and white. Later, during the Empire, two more teams were added: green and blue.
And under Emperor Domitian, two more were added. Although the emperor had the entire chromatic arc, he opted for the colors purple and gold. A very feminist emperor in his election. And from what you can see, Diocles was the Messi everyone wanted. He raced in three different teams: white, green and red.
His incredible fortune
On another monument appears the amount of millions he earned in his career. With that figure they could have supplied grain to the entire population of Rome (at that time) for ten years in a row. When he decided to hang up the reins, Diocles was 42 years old, a monument had been erected in Rome, in the Temple of Primeval Fortune, and had accumulated prizes worth 35,863,120 sesterces, which at the current exchange rate would be 16,000 million dollars.
Unattainable figure for any athlete in our days. Diocles, who was illiterate, had become one of the richest men in Rome. His gains, of colossal proportions, were already highlighted in 1789 by Francisco Masdeu in his Historia Crítica de España y de la Cultura Española.
The marble inscription that his fans financed and that announced his retirement from the sport.
And in 2010, Peter Struck, an economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, did the earnings calculations to the current era and called him "the highest-paid athlete of all time."
Of course, Diocles could not enjoy much of his fortune, since he died in Praeneste, Italy, two years after retiring, with only 44 years. Still, for history, it was the greatest of all. Even if it is, in the bank account...
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GML