This is an expansion of something mentioned last month ... from Today's Zaman:

German archaeologists who have been excavating in the ancient city of Alexandria Troas, located close to Çanakkale's Ezine district, have decoded three letters including the first rules for the Olympic games. The excavations were carried out by Münster University in Germany and led by Archaeologist Professor Elmar Schwertheim.

The letters, written by roman Emperor Hadrian, list the rules for the Olympic games organized in various cities.

The strictest order of the emperor is that the budget of the games should not be used for other expenses. "If a city gets into trouble someday " although I took measures against it " let me know. The budget allocated for these games should not be used for any other purpose without my permission. Such an attempt is fraud," says the emperor. Some of the other rules for the games are as follows:

"The awards should be given immediately"

"The award for the games will be put in a money bag, sealed and left next to the victory wreath. The winner will receive his award in front of everyone right after the competition. Those who don't obey this order, will pay two-folds the actual award. Half of it will be given to the competitor and half to the city where the competition took place."

"If necessary, competitors should be whipped because the competitors must fear something. But they should be whipped on their legs and never be harmed."