Who Was The Richest Athlete Of All Time? | 60 Seconds History

When you think about the highest paid athlete of all time, names like Cristiano Ronaldo or Michael Jordan might come to mind. But what if I told you the top earner ever is widely considered to be an ancient Roman chariot racer? Gaius Appuleius Diocles, originally from modern-day Portugal, competed in 4,257 races over a 24-year career, winning 1,462 of them. Most impressively, he claimed victory in Rome's most prestigious race, the Pompa Circensis, a record-breaking 110 times. He began racing at 18 years of age with the whites, later moved to the greens and ultimately spent his final 15 years with the reds. Official records place his total race day earnings at precisely 35,863,120 sesterces. Attempts to convert that into modern money vary widely, but they consistently land well into the billions. More telling though are contemporary comparisons that show just how extraordinary this figure really was. 35 million sesterces could feed the entire city of Rome for a year, and amounted to roughly 3.5% of the entire empire's annual budget at its peak. It was also 35 times the 1 million sesterces minimum required to qualify as a senator, and likely exceeded the wealth of most men in the senate, who often held less than 10 million. Even compared to Marcus Licinius Crassus, the richest man in Roman history with around 200 million sesterces, Diocles' fortune still holds up remarkably well, placing him among the wealthiest individuals of his entire era. Now as always, thank you for watching, and if you enjoyed the video please like, comment, subscribe and become a channel member to support our work.