Is an ancient charioteer the best paid sportsperson of all time?

Summary

Podcast Summary: More or Less – Is an Ancient Charioteer the Best Paid Sportsperson of All Time?

Date: February 17, 2026
Host: Duncan Weldon (BBC Radio 4)
Guests: Professor Mary Beard (University of Cambridge)

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Overview

This episode of "More or Less" examines the widely-circulated claim that Gaius Apuleius Diocles, an ancient Roman charioteer, was the highest-paid sportsperson in history—out-earning even modern icons like Cristiano Ronaldo. Host Duncan Weldon explores how such enormous figures are calculated, what they mean in context, and whether it makes sense to compare ancient prize money with modern athlete income. The episode features insights from renowned classicist Mary Beard and takes a critical look at converting historic wealth into today’s terms.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin of the Claim

• Listener Jane Bellingham asks whether an ancient Roman charioteer could really out-earn today’s sports stars.
• Discussions about Diocles originate from journalist Charlotte Higgins and Professor Mary Beard’s own podcast, "Instant Classics."

2. Who Was Gaius Apuleius Diocles?

• Spanish-born Roman charioteer and celebrity.
• Reportedly earned "35,000 and something sesterces" as prize money—though the actual figure is much higher.

Memorable Quote:

“His total prize money was 35,000 and something sesterces. And people claim that this guy Diocles, throughout the history of the planet, is the sportsperson who has won the most prize money ever. So it is. Dream on, Ronaldo.”
— Professor Mary Beard [02:09]

3. Correcting the Numbers

• Professor Beard admits on air she misstated his winnings as 35,000 instead of over 35 million sesterces.
• Diocles’s actual winnings, "over 35 million sesterces," set him apart as a super-wealthy athlete in ancient Rome.

Notable Moment:

“The real answer is that it was over 35 million sesterces. What I managed to say on the pod was that it was 35,000 sesterces, which is kind of different.”
— Professor Mary Beard [04:39]

4. How Do You Compare Ancient and Modern Money?

• An American academic in 2010 calculated Diocles’s winnings as equivalent to $15 billion.
• This was done by comparing what Diocles could pay (Roman army wages for a fifth of a year) to what it would cost to pay the modern US Army for the same period.

Key Insight:

“The US army is much bigger than the Roman army. Even if you say the Roman army was touching 300,000, that's still dwarfed by the US Armed Forces, 1.5 million. The cost of paying these two armies for the same period of time are clearly not going to be analogous.”
— Duncan Weldon [06:21]

5. Problems with Long-Range Conversions

• The size, value, and proportion of economies have changed over 2,000 years.
• Direct comparisons, even using clever ratios or analogies, are misleading.

“Money buys different things, different things are differentially expensive in the ancient and modern world.”
— Professor Mary Beard [06:50]

“I would feel hesitant to use the word meaningless, but I think it's pretty close to meaningless.”
— Professor Mary Beard [07:17]

“You just can't get a sensible answer.”
— Duncan Weldon [07:35]

6. Understanding the True Scale of Diocles’s Wealth

• 1 million sesterces was the threshold wealth for a Roman senator—the super-rich elite of their day.
• Diocles amassed a fortune over 35 times the entry to the Roman Senate, a feat placing him among Rome’s financial elite.

“What you have with Diocles is someone who has won as prize money 35 million. So some senators would have had more wealth than that. But he's won over the complete fortune of more than 30 senators.”
— Professor Mary Beard [08:10]

7. Final Assessment: Can We Put Diocles in the Forbes List?

• While Diocles was among the extremely wealthy of his own age, attempts to convert or compare his wealth to modern sporting fortunes are deeply flawed.
• Modern stars like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Cristiano Ronaldo can "rest easy"—no ancient Roman sportsman is overtaking them on wealth rankings in any meaningful cross-temporal sense.

“You can't really include Gaius Apuleius Diocles on a list of the world's richest sports people and certainly not with a 15 billion dollar number attached to him.”
— Duncan Weldon [09:26]

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• [02:09] Mary Beard: “His total prize money was 35,000 and something sesterces... Dream on, Ronaldo.”
• [04:39] Mary Beard: “The real answer is that it was over 35 million sesterces. What I managed to say on the pod was that it was 35,000 sesterces, which is kind of different.”
• [07:17] Mary Beard: “I would feel hesitant to use the word meaningless, but I think it's pretty close to meaningless.”
• [08:10] Mary Beard: “He's won over the complete fortune of more than 30 senators.”
• [09:26] Duncan Weldon: “You can't really include Gaius Apuleius Diocles on a list of the world's richest sports people and certainly not with a 15 billion dollar number attached to him.”

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Important Timestamps

• [01:17] Opening discussion about sports wealth through history
• [02:09] Introduction of Diocles and the (misstated) winnings figure
• [03:37] Roman chariot racing as a mass sport and its dangers
• [04:39] Correction of Diocles’s prize money to 35 million sesterces
• [04:59] Explanation of the $15 billion calculation and method
• [06:21] Problems with comparing Roman and modern armies
• [07:35] Problems with converting ancient wealth into modern terms
• [08:10] Contextualizing Diocles's fortune within Roman society
• [09:26] Final verdict on the comparison

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Conclusion

The episode debunks the popular myth that Diocles can be meaningfully called the best-paid athlete “of all time” in dollar terms. While his fortune was extraordinary by Roman standards—many multiples of a senator’s minimum—direct conversions to modern money distort both the economic context and reality. The episode smartly argues for understanding historical figures in the context of their own time, not by misleading modern equivalences.

If you’re fascinated by history, sports, or the pitfalls of statistics, this is a wry and insightful listen.

Transcript

[A]

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[C]

Hello, and thanks for downloading the More or less Podcast. We're the program that looks at the numbers in the news, in life and in ancient Rome. I'm Duncan Weldon. Professional sport today can feel like it's awash with money. Footballers earning hundreds of thousands a week, basketballers amassing fortunes in wages, sponsorship and shoe deals. Even lowly cricketers are starting to drive flashy cars. But is there a chance that the sports superstars of today could be overshadowed by one who's been dead for nearly 2000 years? Loyal listener Jane Bellingham got in touch to ask this very question after she heard journalist Charlotte Higgins and ancient history professor Mary Beard discussing Roman chariot racing on their podcast Instant Classics.

[D]

He's a guy who's from the Spanish peninsula and his name is Gaius Apuleius Diocles. His total prize money was 35,000 and something sesterces. And people claim that this guy Diocles, throughout the history of the planet, is the sportsperson who has won the most prize money ever. So it is. Dream on, Ronaldo.

[C]

Wow. But wait a second. I'm pretty sure Cristiano Ronaldo isn't paid in sesterces. So how was anyone able to make the comparison in the first place? Well, in 2010, an academic in America made a calculation and decided that Diocles career winnings amounted to a cool. $15 billion. And that's a figure that stuck. But is it a figure we should have confidence in?

[D]

Chariot racing was hugely dangerous. You had to race up and down a track in Rome that was over half a kilometre long with terribly tight cor corners, and charioteers and their chariots and horses came to grief very often on those corners.

[C]

That is, of course, Professor Mary Beard. We went to her to find out a bit more about money in the ancient world, but also chariot racing.

[D]

It is absolutely clear that this was the mass sport. You might have been able, on generous estimates, you might have been able to fit quarter of a million people into the Circus Maximus. We get some idea of what big prize money is. You know, you could get 60,000 sesterces for a big race. You could get less if you came second or third. You could get less if it was a smaller race. But it's clear that there were Diocles, only one. There were superstar charioteers who were both fantastic celebs, you know, have poems written about them, and also became very wealthy.

[C]

Now, Professor Beard told listeners of Instant Classics that Diocles had earned a total of 35,000 sesterces in prize money over the course of his career. Given I know almost no Latin, I'm slightly nervous to correct her, so I'll let her do it herself.

[D]

Yeah, I am going to fess op here. I did Fess Fess up on the show Notes of the podcast. The real answer is that it was over 35 million sesterces. What I managed to say on the pod was that it was 35,000 sesterces, which is kind of different.

[C]

Okay, so the academic Peter strzok, back in 2010, took that number of 35 million sesterces, and he converted into a modern equivalent of $15 billion. Now, he did it in quite an interesting way. He said that that 35 million is enough to pay all of the ordinary soldiers of the Roman army at the height of its imperial reach for a fifth of a year. Then to get the modern equivalent, he's substituted in the American army, taking the amount it costs to pay the wages of all the American armed forces for the same period. And that got him to $15 billion. You know, some people have pointed out some problems. So, yeah, yeah. I mean, the United States army is, you know, in 2010, was one and a half million people. Do we know the size of the Roman army?

[D]

We have a reasonable idea that there was something like 140,000 legionaries. And when we think about the Roman army, what we think of is Legionary soldiers, you probably have to double that in the end if you want to include all the troops of the Roman army. Now there are, because they're also not just legionary soldiers, there are auxiliary soldiers too.

[C]

So problem one, the US army is much bigger than the Roman army. Even if you say the Roman army was touching 300,000, that's still dwarfed by the US Armed Forces, 1.5 million. The cost of paying these two armies for the same period of time are clearly not going to be analogous. But there's a more fundamental problem here. Even if the armies were exactly the same size, there's no guarantee that a soldier then would cost the same as a soldier.

[D]

Now the problem is that, and this is what you get whenever you talk quite reasonably, whenever you talk about someone like Diocles, or whenever you talk about cost in Rome, people say, well, what is that? What is that in modern money? Money buys different things, different things are differentially expensive in the ancient and modern world.

[C]

We're talking about an economy 2,000 years ago. It looks very, very different.

[D]

It is just very different. So the lovely back of the envelope kind of calculations saying, oh, well, that would be about this percentage of the US army and therefore divide it by whatever and you get a figure. You know, I would feel hesitant to use the word meaningless, but I think it's pretty close to meaningless.

[C]

What really complicates these kind of very long run comparisons is economic growth. The overall size of the economy and income per head has advanced a lot quicker than prices over the centuries. This means you can only really understand someone's wealth within the context of the economy they're in. If you try and translate the wealth of a very rich person 2000 years ago to today, you just can't get a sensible answer. Ultimately, the best thing to do is to put the wealth of individuals into the context of their own age.

[D]

And when we do 35 million sesterces, let's say it's a vast sum of money, I mean, I can give you some pretty fixed ideas of getting a bit of hang of that, which is that if you were a senator in Rome, and that is the super rich, you had to have a total wealth of a million sesterces to qualify. What you have with Diocles is someone who has won as prize money 35 million. So some senators would have had more wealth than that. But he's won over the complete fortune of more than 30 senators.

[C]

Is he one of the mega rich of his day?

[D]

He is one of the mega rich and there will be mega rich senators and maybe others in the Roman Empire who have more wealth. Don't know what their annual income is. More wealth than Diocles, but not all that many. I mean, I think we really are at the top of the upper rate tax band here.

[C]

You know, I'm sorry to spoil the fun, but you can't really include Gaius Apuleius Diocles on a list of the world's richest sports people and certainly not with a 15 billion dollar number attached to him. So those figures who often find themselves on the top of those sporting rich lists, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, they can rest easy for the moment. Our thanks to Professor Mary Beard from the University of Cambridge. If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch at more or lessbc.co.uk we'll be back next time and until then, goodbye.

[B]

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