The highest paid athlete ever actually lived in Ancient Rome

People interested in sports always argue over who is the master of that sport. Like in football, people always fight over who is the better performer, be it Messi or Ronaldo, In MMA Khabib or McGregor, In basketball, some say Michael Jordan, some say LeBron James. 

People not only fight over their performances but also fight over how much the players get paid. And when it comes to money, we always think of Ronaldo, Messi, McGregor, Federer, and many more.

There was a Roman charioteer who earned $15 billion in his lifetime. We could give you 15 billion guesses and we guarantee you still wouldn't name this man. Gaius Appuleius Diocles.

A historian named Peter T. Struck says that Diocles lived from 104 to 146 AD. The Lusitanian Spaniard got paid 35,863,120 Roman sesterces. And this is comparable to today's $15 billion.

To put that into perspective, for Ronaldo or Messi to take home that amount during their career, they too would need to earn an extra $480m per year on top of their 'meagre' $20m-a-year contracts.

Either that or they'd need to play for roughly 600 years. They do look poor to Diocles now, don't they?

The number of money Diocle earned was carved on a monument in Rome. At the end of Diocles' 24-year career, his fans did that.

There was a sports arena in Rome named Circus Maximus. It was the most famous place for racing. Drivers who belong to the lower class came here, teamed up, and did chariot racing.

They got different colours of jerseys, reds, blues, whites and greens. It helped fans to understand whom to support. Throughout his career, Diocles used to wear red the most.

As soon as the emperor dropped the napkin, races began. It was a seven laps thrilling race with some simple rules.

You must not get killed, you couldn't lose any of your body parts. The last rule was you must finish the race in the top three. And that was when you would be considered to get rewards.

Diocles was famed for his powerful dash to the finish line. He used a curved knife against his opponents. Sometimes it helped him to tangle up in the reins. 

One could easily understand that he was so much fascinated with chariot racing. His wardrobe was full of the leather helmet, armour, shin guards for the legs, a jersey and of course a whip.  

He had a mind-blowing record of victory. In four-horse races, he won 1,462 races out of 4,257. In 1,438 races he finished mostly in the second position, sometimes in third.