Roman Gladiators Were Mostly Vegetarian and Drank Ashes for Peak Physical Performance

You might think that Roman gladiators subsisted on a diet of mea-t-but you'd be wrong. New findings reveal that these ancient fighters ate a mostly vegetarian diet and actually drank ashes after training as a tonic. The findings reveal a bit more about the lifestyle of these warriors.

Historic sources actually report that gladiators had their own, specialized diet. This was comprised of beans and grains, and contemporary reports referred to them as "hordearii," which means "barley eaters."

Intrigued by this, scientists decided to look for hard evidence. The researchers examined bones from a gladiator cemetery which was uncovered in 1993 and which dates back to the 2^nd or 3^rd century BC in the Roman city of Ephesos. At the time, Ephesos was the capital of the Roman province of Asia and boasted over 200,000 inhabitants.

The researchers used spectroscopy in order to better understand stable isotope ratio in the collagen of the bones. This revealed what the gladiators ate. In this case, the scientists found that the gladiators mostly ate a vegetarian diet, and there was no difference in terms of nutrition from the local "normal" population of people.

There was one different in a gladiator's diet, though. There was a much higher amount of strontium in the bones. This indicated that gladiators had a higher intake of minerals from a strontium-rich source of calcium. This, in particular, showed that the ash drink quoted in literature probably did exist.

"Plant ashes were evidently consumed to fortify the body after physical exertion and to promote better bone healing," said Fabian Kanz, the study leader, in a news release. "Things were similar then to what we do today-we take magnesium and calcium (in the form of effervescent tables, for example) following physical exertion."

The findings reveal a bit more about the past lives of these gladiators. Not only that, but it shows that they did supplement their diets so that they could perform better physically.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.