Gladiators' Diet

[Bob]

Ancient Bones Show Roman Gladiators Ate Vegetarian Diet, Drank A Weird Tonic
The Huffington Post | By Jacqueline Howard

Posted: 10/22/2014 2:16 pm EDT Updated: 10/22/2014 2:59 pm EDT

GLADIATOR DIET

Roman gladiators may have been gluttons for punishment, what with all that heavy combat. But a new analysis of their bones suggests they favored lighter fare in their food, eating mostly vegetables--along with a sort of sports drink made of ashes.

Why eat ashes?

"Plant ashes were evidently consumed to fortify the body after physical exertion and to promote better bone healing," study leader Dr. Fabian Kanz, a professor in the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, said in a written statement. "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."

For the study, Kanz and his team analyzed the collagen and mineral content in bone samples from the remains of 53 men and women whose graves had been unearthed in the ancient Roman city of Ephesus (now in modern-day Turkey) between 1992 and 1994. Twenty-two of the men were known to have been gladiators because their remains were found in a gladiator cemetery.

The analysis indicated that the gladiators and non-gladiators alike mostly ate vegetables and grains. But the gladiators had an unusually high consumption of minerals -- presumably from the ash-containing beverage, which is known from previous research.

The study was published online in the journal PLoS ONE on October 15, 2014.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/2 ... ef=science

[Dmitri]

Fascinating; thanks for posting.

I'm wondering how/why (or if?) does ash contain more minerals (or is in some other way better) than consuming the plant it came from (that was burnt)? Or I guess were they burning non-edible plants? Or just ash from "regular" wood-burning campfires?

[Michael]

From what I heard online that may or may not be true, people traditionally poured ashes from their fires onto their growing soil in order to replenish the minerals of the soil, and if true, this suggests that the mineral composition in ash is relatively high and perhaps also in a more readily absorbable form than other sources. Seems testable.

[Azer]

Might be related to this:

Potash refers to potassium compounds and potassium-bearing materials, the most common being potassium chloride (KCl). The term "potash" comes from the Old Dutch word potaschen ("pot ashes", 16th century). The old method of making potassium carbonate (K2CO3) was by leaching of wood ashes and then evaporating the resulting solution in large iron pots, leaving a white residue called "pot ash".[3] Approximately 10% by weight of common wood ash can be recovered as pot ash.[4][5] Later, "potash" became the term widely applied to naturally occurring potassium salts and the commercial product derived from them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potash#Terminology

Potash, these days is primarily used in the agriculture industry and I would have thought that proper industrial potash would be quite toxic to humans. AFAIR, Rasputin was poisoned with potash, though it wasn't the cause of his death. However, perhaps a low concentrate version wouldn't be toxic.

Nigerians seem to use a type of potash for cooking, though there are risks involved:

http://www.9jafoodie.com/2012/06/kaun-a ... ng-potash/

http://www.tribune.com.ng/component/k2/ ... ur-kitchen

[Dmitri]

Side-stepping a bit, just had another thought on the whole thing -- I'm wondering if (and I know next to nothing about gladiators, so this is to be taken with a bucket of salt) they didn't eat much meat simply because it was more expensive and generally food for the rich?

[Azer]

I just dug this up, its from 2008 but seems to have all the same info as per the more recent articles i.e. vegetarian etc:

http://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abs ... iator.html

Contemporary accounts of gladiator life sometimes refer to the warriors as hordearii--literally, "barley men." Grossschmidt and collaborator Fabian Kanz subjected bits of the bone to isotopic analysis, a technique that measures trace chemical elements such as calcium, strontium, and zinc, to see if they could find out why. They turned up some surprising results. Compared to the average inhabitant of Ephesus, gladiators ate more plants and very little animal protein. The vegetarian diet had nothing to do with poverty or animal rights. Gladiators, it seems, were fat. Consuming a lot of simple carbohydrates, such as barley, and legumes, like beans, was designed for survival in the arena. Packing in the carbs also packed on the pounds. "Gladiators needed subcutaneous fat," Grossschmidt explains. "A fat cushion protects you from cut wounds and shields nerves and blood vessels in a fight." Not only would a lean gladiator have been dead meat, he would have made for a bad show. Surface wounds "look more spectacular," says Grossschmidt. "If I get wounded but just in the fatty layer, I can fight on," he adds. "It doesn't hurt much, and it looks great for the spectators."

[yeniseri]

I can see how a gladiators' associations would allow his life "more pleasantries!!!" when he brought prestige, political clout and personal benefits to the households of those who could afford those expenses.

[Steve James]

says Grossschmidt. "If I get wounded but just in the fatty layer, I can fight on," he adds. "It doesn't hurt much, and it looks great for the spectators."

And where would those fatty layers be? It makes sense from the point of view of spectator pleasure; i.e., seeing lots of blood. But, I wouldn't wager anything that most of the wounds that gladiators suffered were in their fattiest areas. A study of gladiator injuries would be worth comparing. If eating grains were a strategy, then gladiators might have agreed on just getting wounded on their fat parts. I'm not sure that cutting an arm or leg would allow continued effective competition. Otoh, a gladiator's diet might be like a Roman soldier's.

Roman Soldiers Ate (and Perhaps Drank) Mostly Grain

R.W. Davies is not saying the Roman soldiers were primarily meat eaters. Their diet was mostly grain: wheat, barley, and oats, mainly, but also spelt and rye. Just as Roman solders were supposed to dislike meat, so too they were supposed to detest beer -- considering it far inferior to their native Roman wine. Davies brings this assumption into question when he says a discharged Germanic soldier set himself up to supply the Roman military with beer near the end of the first century.

Republican and Imperial Soldiers Were Probably Not That Different

It might be argued that the information about Roman soldiers of the Imperial period is irrelevant for the earlier Republican period. But even here R.W. Davies argues that there is evidence from the Republican period of Roman history for meat consumption by soldiers: "When Scipio reintroduced military discipline to the army at Numantia in 134 B.C. [see Table of Roman Battles], he ordered that the only way the troops could eat their meat was by roasting or boiling it." There would be no reason to discuss procedure for preparation if they weren't eating it. Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus made a similar rule in 109 B.C.

Davies also mentions a passage from Suetonius' biography of Julius Caesar in which Caesar made a generous donation to the people of Rome of meat.

" XXXVIII. To every foot-soldier in his veteran legions, besides the two thousand sesterces paid him in the beginning of the civil war, he gave twenty thousand more, in the shape of prize-money. He likewise allotted them lands, but not in contiguity, that the former owners might not be entirely dispossessed. To the people of Rome, besides ten modii of corn, and as many pounds of oil, he gave three hundred sesterces a man, which he had formerly promised them, and a hundred more to each for the delay in fulfilling his engagement.... To all this he added a public entertainment, and a distribution of meat...."
Suetonius - Julius Caesar
Lack of Refrigeration Meant Summer Meat Would Have Spoiled

Davies lists one passage that has been used to defend the idea of a vegetarian military during the Republican period: "'Corbulo and his army, although they had suffered no losses in battle, were worn out by shortages and exertion and were driven to ward off hunger by eating the flesh of animals. Moreover, water was short, the summer was long....'" Davies explains that in the heat of the summer and without salt to preserve the meat, soldiers were reluctant to eat it for fear of getting sick from spoiled meat.

Soldiers Could Carry More Protein Power in Meat Than Grain

Davies is not saying the Romans were primarily meat eaters even in the Imperial period, but he is saying that there is reason to question the assumption that Roman soldiers, with their need for high quality protein and to limit the amount of food they had to carry, avoided meat. The literary passages are ambiguous, but clearly the Roman soldier of at least the Imperial period did eat meat and probably with regularity. It could be argued that the Roman army was increasingly composed of non-Romans/Italians: that the later Roman soldier may have been more likely to be from Gaul or Germania, which may or may not be sufficient explanation for the Imperial soldier's carnivorous diet. This seems to be one more case where there is reason at least to question the conventional (here, meat-shunning) wisdom.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/roma ... erDiet.htm

So, perhaps the gladiator diet could have been similar.

[Andy_S]

I don't buy the idea of fat gladiators.

Firstly, when we look at what they did for a living, it makes little sense. They were professional fighters (in fact, the vast majority were slaves) and fighting is what they trained to do all day, every day. Moreover, we know that the Greeks and Romans had a strong physical culture.

Secondly, there is contemporary visual evidence that they were NOT fat. If we look at representations of them on mosaics and vases, they look pretty muscular. Contemporary marble statues portray them as lean and even wiry; even busts of them, showing just head and shoulders, show them as lean, not fat.

This is supposition based on one academic paper; it does not add up.

[Steve James]

Well, yeah, increasing the fat usually means decreasing the speed and stamina. I can buy that some gladiators were "fat" by gladiator standards, and that many weren't "ripped" by today's standards. I can't buy the idea that they deliberately put on fat so that they wouldn't be injured as badly. It's probably true that some extra fat helped; I just find it hard to believe that it's the reason that grains formed so much of their diet.

I'd also bet that the premier gladiators might have had a different diet that the ordinary ones. If someone owned a gladiator school, I think he'd feed most of them the same things in mass quantities. As Andy points out, these were professional fighters. So, they spend most of their days training. It's hard to see them getting plump. But, anything is possible.

Besides, wouldn't it make more sense to eat fats to get fat. Can carbs turn into fat, especially in someone who is exercising constantly?

[Andy_S]

Steve:

RE: Ripped
Judging by contemporary marbles, at last some gladiators were VERY lean and mean.

[Steve James]

Judging by contemporary marbles, at last some gladiators were VERY lean and mean.

No doubt. Maybe most of them were; my point was only that some of them might not have been. Some might have been more like US football or rugby players, with lots of mass. I also think that the different gladiatorial styles might dictate body type. That would also make for interesting fights.

[Steve James]

Otoh ... but his fatty bits are protected, if the painting --much later than the mosaics-- is accurate. Still, he looks tough.

[Azer]

This is an interesting read, counters the 'fat' idea:

“Fat” Gladiators: Modern Misconceptions Regarding the Dietary Practices of Swordsmen of the Ancient Roman Arena

http://outofthiscentury.wordpress.com/2 ... man-arena/

[Graculus]

Apart from anything else, I don't really get the leap of logic(?) that goes from saying gladiators had a high carb diet to saying they were fat. This attitude is surely based on current sedentary lifestyles and the vogue for high-protein diets as a way to lose weight. A high carb diet is comparatively normal in many places in the world where people tend to be on the skinny side. Plenty of physical activity (I suspect gladiators trained quite a bit) and not over-eating would have kept them trim enough.

Graculus
http://www.ichijoji.blogspot.com