HBO Rome, town crier, 25 seconds
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 ...
i’ve had nuoc mam, but never Mam Nem
In alcohol terms, nuoc mam is Bud Light. Mam nem is Kentucky moonshine your hillbilly buddy brings back from a visit home in quart jars. 4% vs 90%. Because I am on a low sodium diet it takes just a few drops of mam nem to substitute for a tbsp of nuoc mam. Both are salty as hell, but the mam nem takes a lot less to add the umame. A tbsp of nuoc mam blows almost my entire sodium for the day. Mam nem, and my palette is happy and I can still have more sodium for the day. (1700 mg sodium in a tbsp of either or)
They tried introducing garum in the gladiators' mess hall, but it freaked out the mirmillo.
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