Analyses of the chemical content of the bones found in the gladiators' cemetery in Ephesus, Turkey, carried out by the Austrian forensic anthropologists Dr Fabian Kanz and Prof. Karl Grosschmidt, gave new valuable information about the Roman gladiators’ training, diet and medical treatment.
Gladiators’ Training Program
The gladiators spent a lot of time training to maintain their physical strength and develop better fighting skills and Dr Kanz and Prof. Grosschmidt found strong evidence of the ancient arena fighters’ extensive training program. While examining the skeletons, the anthropologists noticed that arm and leg bones were extremely developed and the bone density was as high as that of the modern athletes. The scientists also found abnormal bone density of the feet – a fact which reveals that the gladiators wore no sandals while training and most probably while fighting, as well.
Gladiators’ Vegetarian Diet
Dr Kanz and Prof. Grosschmidt shattered the traditional notion that gladiators had slender, muscular bodies. Analyzing the chemical content of the bones, they found that the gladiators consume mainly vegetarian food rich in carbohydrates, such as barley, beans and dried fruits. It was for this reason that they were nicknamed “hordearii”, literally “barley eaters”. A diet rich in simple carbohydrates but devoid of meat and animal protein made gladiators little overweight.
“Gladiators needed subcutaneous fat. A fat cushion protects you from cut wounds and shields nerves and blood vessels in a fight”, Prof. Grosschmidt explained to Andrew Curry, a correspondent for the Archaeology magazine. The anthropologist added that wounds in the fatty layer were not dangerous but were bloody and “look great for the spectators”.
In order to supply body with calcium, the gladiators drank a liquid made of bone ash or charred plants and wood. The drink was rich in minerals and might have been a kind of analgesic. However, the carbo diet caused serious dental problems and most of the gladiators had tooth decay.
Gladiators’ Medical Care
Obviously, the gladiators had terrible cooks and no dentists, but (especially those in Ephesus) had the best physicians, surgeons and physiotherapists in the ancient Rome. The Viennese anthropologists found a great number of well cured wounds on the bones and sculls and evidence of amputation and other surgical interventions. Dr Kanz and Prof. Grosschmidt chanced upon a fracture on a radius which was treated with the methods of physiotherapy and was healed so well that it was almost invisible. They suppose the most of that perfect medical work had been done by the prominent Roman physician of Greek origins, Galen of Pergamum, who lived several miles away from Ephesus.
Sources:
The Gladiator Diet by Andrew Curry, Archaeology magazine, Volume 61, Number 6, November/December 2008
Head Injuries of Roman Gladiators by Fabian Kanz and Karl Grosschmidt, Forensic Science International, Volume 160, Issue 2-3, July 13, 2006
Rumyana Mokanova - I am a Bulgarian journalist with a Master's Degree in journalism at St Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia and 15-year practice in daily ...
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