Mobility of athletes in Asia Minor in I.-II. century ce

Sports, traces of which can be followed back to five thousand years ago, has survived to the present day as a part of education, military service, and entertainment in social life. Before the Ancient Greeks, kings and rulers tried to increase their prestige over the people by highlighting their prowess in sports. In ancient Greece, young individuals received physical and musical training as well as mental training to become contributing members of society. Greeks wanted to prove that they were better in every subject, as well as in sports. In order to prove this, they brought agones into the social life. As seen in Homer, agons were originally arranged only at the funerals of heroes and nobles or to honor the deceased. However, with the establishment of Greek city-states in the early 8th century BC., these sporting events would begin to be organized regularly as part of organized festivals. The first agon would be the stadion within the Olympia festival. Olympia would be followed by the Pythia, Isthmia, Nemean Games, and Panathenaean Games. During the Roman Imperial Period, festivals, many of which were combined with the imperial cult, began to spring up everywhere. Although gladiator fights seem to have come to the fore in the Roman Period, the Greek athletic tradition reached its peak in the first three centuries of the Empire. During this period, the athletes were running to the festivals which are held hundreds of kilometers away almost without a break. There are many inscriptions found from Asia Minor regarding the travels of athletes between Roman imperial cities. In this study, it is focused on the inscriptions of 4 different athletes from the cities of Asia Minor and their travels.