Having just come back from exploring the Coliseum in Rome, this story captured my interest. Anthropologists have analyzed the diet of gladiators in the city of Ephesus and determined that they mainly lived on a beans-and-grains diet rather than meat. a drink made of plant ashes that was supposed to “fortify the body after physical exertion and … promote better bone healing.”
The findings are from an analysis of the bones of a gladiator in Turkey. The tests measure carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur levels as well as the ratio of strontium (a chemical element that’s found in ash) to calcium.
Gladiators were known as “hordearii,” or “barley eaters” to refer to the low-grade grain that they ate. However, they appear to have had the same diet as other people.
The most interesting was the ash tonic, which seems an early version of supplements of magnesium and calcium that some people take today after exercise.
Source: Phys.org
I do drink gin occasionally. I have a friend who is a retired FBI counterintelligence guy. He would sit down w/ Russian spies back in the 60’s/70’s posing as a US businessman. He had to learn how to drink mass quantities of vodka and keep his head about him.
Darren, I was taught the darker liquors were not charcoal filtered like vodka, and healthier. And, as we know “Gin will make you sin.”
Gladiator Games The Roman Bloodsport
Unhealthy vodka? What would that be, aside from overuse?
I don’t much care for the potato kind though.
Nick Spinelli
Of course, most everyone drinks the unhealthy vodka now.
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Ah, the speaker for the majority.
The FDA was weakened by LINOs who allowed unhealthy vodka to replace health vodka.
Then complained about what they had done.
It figures.
Sometimes they ate the bad guys.
Tyger, Heh, yes, most definitely.
There’s something fishy about the way you eat, Darren.
I prefer the Pescetarian Diet
This has worked very well for me in many regards.
The same is true for Roman soldiers during campaign. Plants diets digested faster providing more energy. One of the reasons many athletes today are adopting a plant based diet. There is less recovery time between work outs.
I was at the cathouse last week with my half blind guy and there was a guy there named Gladheateher. The gal working there said that she was not glad. They got into a dispute over his real name. He got out his voter ID and it was some other name like Willie Clinton.
Barley takes long to cook which may explain why our culture has given up on cooking it. For most folks, if you can’t cook something in the microwave in 5 minutes then they won’t eat it. I cook barley all the time. I will serve it in place of rice.
Of course, most everyone drinks the unhealthy vodka now.
Barley is a grain very high in protein. If I find beef, mushroom, whatever kind of barley soup on the menu I always order it. It has a creamy texture ala risotto. Many folks get their barley through whiskey.
Speaking of that, anyone want to get into the sports drink business?
The article I read on this was pushing the ash water as a early sports drink. What we do know is that 6 months from now this story will change.
Why don’t people eat much barley today? You can hardly find it in the grocery store. It’s great in soup.
Are you not entertained? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!
It is amazing how many different diets people can develop and perpetuate.
oops Galdiators in title instead of gladiators … delete this after repair please …