ROMAN GLADIATORS WERE VEGGIE
Roman gladiators were overweight vegetarians who lived on
barley and beans, according to a scientific study by the
University of Vienna of the largest gladiator graveyard
discovered.
Analysis of the bones of more than 70 gladiators recently
found near Ephesus, the Roman capital of Asia Minor, puts
paid to traditional Hollywood images of macho carnivores
with the physique of boxers.
Ancient Roman mosaics depict gladiators as stocky, heavy
men but historians have tended to assume this was a tribute
to their macho image rather than a literal depiction of
their size.
Karl Grossschmidt, a forensic anthropologist at Vienna
University, used chemical testing on the bones to
reveal that gladiators stuck to a diet of barley and
beans to bulk out.
It was a boring diet, he admitted. "They got enough of this
food every day to make them very fat and strong," he said.
He concluded that they devised the diet primarily to protect
themselves from slashing wounds and damage to nerves and
blood vessels, with the layer of fat supplementing their
scant armor.
Dr Grossschmidt noticed from the bone analysis that,
contrary to the normal effects of intensive training, the
gladiators put on weight before a fight rather than lost it.
The density of the bone tissue was significantly higher than
normal, exactly what one finds in modern athletes, he said.
The bone enlargement was particularly pronounced in the feet
- evidence that gladiators fought barefoot in the slippery
arena sand.
courtesy of vnv.org.auVNVUpdate 18.htmOpen ↗