Horse Racing Rules Appeared in the 2000-Year-Old Inscription in Konya

It turned out that the rules of horse racing were written on the inscription on Konya’s 2,000-year-old Lukuyanus Monument. The inscription went down in literature as the oldest inscription describing the rules of horse racing.

The most famous work in the neighbourhood, which is known to have been the most important centre of the Hittites for a period, is the 72-ton Fasıllar Monument, known as the “God of Fertility”, which is thought to date back 3,200 years. Selcuk University Faculty of Literature Department of History Lecturer Prof. Dr. Hasan Bahar said that “the monument was built after the early death of a young man named Lukuyanus, a Roman horse rider.”

Bahar stated that”horse races are organized around the monument, known locally as “Atkaya”. This is a hippodrome. This monument belongs to a Roman rider named Lukuyanus. This person is a racer. We understand from this structure that horse races are held, and horses are bred here. The Hittites built monuments for the surrounding mountains, which they believed were sacred. During the Roman period, horse races were perhaps held to bless these mountains.”