2,400-Year-Old Grave of a Giant Wrestler Found in Ancient City in Southern Turkey

Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced the discovery of a 2,400-year-old grave believed to belong to a giant wrestler in the ancient city of Aspendos in southern Turkey.

Ersoy said coins bearing images of wrestlers, along with other artifacts, were found inside a tomb dating back to between the last quarter of the 5th century and the 4th century BC.

The eastern necropolis of the ancient city was discovered for the first time along the road leading downhill from the eastern walls toward the famous ancient theater. Archaeologists uncovered a cist grave built from stone slabs, considered one of the most important discoveries linked to Aspendos’ Classical period, which has not been sufficiently represented in the archaeological record until now.

The artifacts suggest that the person buried there — a single individual — was associated with athletics and may have been a wrestler from Aspendos.

The items found in the grave have also provided important information about daily life, burial traditions, and the social structure of Aspendos during that period.

Ersoy congratulated the excavation team, researchers, and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums on the valuable discovery.