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What Did Gladiators Eat?
BAR ^ | Monday, January 21, 2019 | Robin Ngo

Posted on 01/22/2019 11:03:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv

"For abdominal cramp or bruises," states Marcus Varro, and I quote his very words, "your hearth should be your medicine chest. Drink lye made from its ashes, and you will be cured. One can see how gladiators after a combat are helped by drinking this." -- Pliny, Natural History XXXVI.203

The Roman gladiator calls to mind a fierce fighter who, armed with an assortment of weapons, battled other gladiators -- and even wild animals. What did gladiators eat? Roman author Pliny the Elder reported that gladiators went by the nickname "hordearii" ("barley-eaters") and drank a tonic of ashes after combat (Pliny, NH XVIII.72, XXXVI.203). A study recently published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE confirmed that gladiators really did eat mostly plants -- especially barley and wheat -- and may have indeed consumed ashes...

Researchers from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern and the Medical University of Vienna aimed to investigate how the diet of gladiators compared to the rest of the population. Using spectroscopy to conduct isotopic analysis on the bone remains from a second-third-century C.E. gladiator cemetery in Roman Ephesus in Turkey, the researchers were able to confirm that the individuals buried in the cemetery consumed a mostly plant-based diet -- as did the rest of the population in Ephesus...

"Plant ashes were evidently consumed to fortify the body after physical exertion and to promote better bone healing," study leader Fabian Kanz explained to ScienceDaily. "Things were similar then to what we do today -- we take magnesium and calcium (in the form of effervescent tablets, for example) following physical exertion."

(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; dietandcuisine; gladiator; gladiators; godsgravesglyphs; romanempire
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To: nopardons

It’s amusing that the authors of a couple of those Roman recipe books of modern times are surname “Brothwell”. ;^)


21 posted on 01/22/2019 11:38:26 PM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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in case that link doesn’t lead to a working link:

http://www.google.com/search?q=ostia+antica+thermopolium&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&tbm=isch


22 posted on 01/22/2019 11:39:49 PM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

23 posted on 01/22/2019 11:40:58 PM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
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in case that link doesn’t lead to a working link:

http://www.google.com/search?q=ostia+antica+thermopolium&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&tbm=isch


24 posted on 01/22/2019 11:41:21 PM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: SunkenCiv
Were they? That's a hoot!

I'm relying on my memory, talking about what I learned at 14, which was more decades ago than I care to say. :-)

25 posted on 01/22/2019 11:41:57 PM PST by nopardons
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks for the links...great pictures!


26 posted on 01/22/2019 11:43:25 PM PST by nopardons
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

Little Caesars. Makes sense. They are a “Cassius and carry out” type of operation.

Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look. That is why he opened a “Little Caesars” pizza parlor in the Colosseum. Gladiators get half off if they survive.

You want “lion meat” on your pizza?


27 posted on 01/22/2019 11:47:43 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: SunkenCiv

They ate pie...


28 posted on 01/22/2019 11:48:26 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0ndRzaz2o)
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To: nopardons

#15. The foods you listed for the lower classes sounded like what we had to eat our first year of college. I wondered why they claimed it was “food for the gods” until I realized that I was going to TEMPLE University.


29 posted on 01/22/2019 11:50:29 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
LOL...that's funny, re that you went to Temple and the "food for the gods" thing.

My Freshman year at college, the foods was pretty awful and some of it weird ( well, to me ), but the next three years changes had been made and the food was better. Nonetheless, we students always joked about the Saturday night dinner ( hotdogs, New England baked beans and New England brown bread ) claiming that they put salt peter in the beans. wink wink, nod nod......

30 posted on 01/23/2019 12:08:51 AM PST by nopardons
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To: nopardons
Garum is still eaten today. Mam Nem.



It isn't bad in tiny quantities but smelling the bottle will make you wretch and dry heave (Wet heave for some people) It is not for the faint of heart. Think liquid Surströmming on steroids. It packs a massive umami punch. A 1/2 teaspoon in six quarts of chili is perfect.
31 posted on 01/23/2019 12:19:41 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget (TRUMP TRAIN !!! Get the hell out of the way if you are not on yet because we don't stop for idiots)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

They ate a lot of barley meal. Made them fat and able to with stand heavy fighting and body blows.


32 posted on 01/23/2019 12:41:15 AM PST by jmacusa (Made it Ma, top of the world!'')
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To: SunkenCiv

A flagon of ale and a leg of mutton?


33 posted on 01/23/2019 1:10:56 AM PST by LukeL
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To: SunkenCiv

I knew the ashes for upset stomach from survival school. It works.


34 posted on 01/23/2019 1:35:09 AM PST by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

Order taker: “You want “lion meat” on your pizza?”
Gladiator: “Yes”
Order taker: “Then bring me a lion.”


35 posted on 01/23/2019 2:00:11 AM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor
PERFECT !

I stopped reading right there.

36 posted on 01/23/2019 2:13:16 AM PST by knarf
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To: SunkenCiv

Fruit cake. Some of which I think are still being passed around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitcake


37 posted on 01/23/2019 2:40:17 AM PST by Yogafist
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

38 posted on 01/23/2019 2:59:30 AM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: SunkenCiv
What Did Gladiators Eat?

"Noble" women.

39 posted on 01/23/2019 3:31:35 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists...Socialists...Fascists & AntiFa...Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

lol


40 posted on 01/23/2019 3:38:57 AM PST by sit-rep
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