Is an ancient charioteer the best paid sportsperson of all time?
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Modern sport can seem awash with money, but it’s been claimed that the richest sportsperson of all is an ancient Roman Charioteer from the second century AD called Gaius Appuleius Diocles, with career winnings that stood at 35 million sesterces. One calculation has translated that into an astonishing $15 billion dollars today, and it’s a figure that’s stuck. But should we believe it? Duncan Weldon talks to ancient historian Professor Mary Beard from the University of Cambridge to learn more about the big business of chariot racing, and how we should think about money and wealth in the economies of the past. Presenter: Duncan Weldon Producer: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast. |
| 0:09.6 | We're the programme that looks at the numbers in the news, in life and in ancient Rome. |
| 0:14.8 | I'm Duncan Weldon. |
| 0:20.0 | Professional sport today can feel like it's a wash with money. |
| 0:23.6 | Footballers earning hundreds of thousands a week. |
| 0:26.6 | Basketballers amassing fortunes in wages, sponsorship and shoe deals. |
| 0:31.6 | Even lowly cricketers are starting to drive flashy cars. |
| 0:35.6 | But is there a chance that the sports superstars of today |
| 0:38.7 | could be overshadowed by one who's been dead for nearly 2,000 years? |
| 0:44.5 | Loyal listener Jane Bellingham got in touch to ask this very question |
| 0:48.3 | after she heard journalist Charlotte Higgins and ancient history professor Mary Beard |
| 0:53.4 | discussing Roman chariot racing |
| 0:55.7 | on their podcast, instant classics. |
| 0:58.0 | He's a guy who's from the Spanish Peninsula and his name is Gaius Apuleus Diocles. |
| 1:05.6 | His total price money was 35,000 and something Cestasies. |
| 1:12.7 | And people claim that this guy, Diocles, |
| 1:17.4 | throughout the history of the planet, |
| 1:19.6 | is the sports person who has won the most prize money ever. |
| 1:26.6 | So it is Dream, Aron, Ronaldo. So it is dream on Ronaldo. |
| 1:29.2 | Wow. |
| 1:30.3 | But wait a second. |
| 1:31.7 | I'm pretty sure Cristiano Ronaldo isn't paid incestices. |
... |
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