2,400-year-old wrestler's tomb unearthed at Aspendos in Türkiye

Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,400-year-old cist tomb believed to belong to a wrestler at Aspendos, an ancient city in southern Türkiye renowned for its remarkably preserved Roman theater, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Monday.

Ancient burial site

The stone box-like structure dates from the last quarter of the fifth century BC to the fourth century BC and was discovered in the Eastern Necropolis — an area whose existence within the ancient city had not previously been identified, Ersoy said. "In excavations we are doing at the ancient city of Aspendos, we have made a very important discovery that sheds light on the city's Classical-period history," he said in a post on NSosyal.

Wrestler connection

Artifacts recovered from the burial chamber include Aspendos coins depicting wrestlers, suggesting the person interred there maintained connections to athletics and may himself have been a wrestler from the Pamphylian city, Ersoy noted. The minister said ongoing archaeological work at the site would continue to help fill gaps in the historical record of the region.

Classical-era context

Located near the modern-day town of Serik in Antalya province — whose scenic Mediterranean coastline draws millions of tourists annually — Aspendos was an important settlement in the region of Pamphylia during antiquity. It is best known today for its large Roman theater, built in the second century AD and among the best-preserved ancient theaters in the Mediterranean. The newly identified Eastern Necropolis adds to the archaeological record of an earlier period of the city's history, offering researchers further evidence about how its inhabitants lived and buried their dead during the Classical era.