Posted on 01/22/2019 11:03:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv
"For abdominal cramp or bruises," states Marcus Varro, and I quote his very words, "your hearth should be your medicine chest. Drink lye made from its ashes, and you will be cured. One can see how gladiators after a combat are helped by drinking this." -- Pliny, Natural History XXXVI.203
The Roman gladiator calls to mind a fierce fighter who, armed with an assortment of weapons, battled other gladiators -- and even wild animals. What did gladiators eat? Roman author Pliny the Elder reported that gladiators went by the nickname "hordearii" ("barley-eaters") and drank a tonic of ashes after combat (Pliny, NH XVIII.72, XXXVI.203). A study recently published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE confirmed that gladiators really did eat mostly plants -- especially barley and wheat -- and may have indeed consumed ashes...
Researchers from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern and the Medical University of Vienna aimed to investigate how the diet of gladiators compared to the rest of the population. Using spectroscopy to conduct isotopic analysis on the bone remains from a second-third-century C.E. gladiator cemetery in Roman Ephesus in Turkey, the researchers were able to confirm that the individuals buried in the cemetery consumed a mostly plant-based diet -- as did the rest of the population in Ephesus...
"Plant ashes were evidently consumed to fortify the body after physical exertion and to promote better bone healing," study leader Fabian Kanz explained to ScienceDaily. "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."
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
Did they eat the ashes or the lye? The ashes I understand. The water from ashes, not so much.
I’ll just throw thus in for giggles...
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/aiv7lb/4chan_anon_is_3d_printing_a_roman_bust_of_trump/
Donaldus Maximus.
They couldn't have just called Russell Crowe and asked?
Mush and bone broth soup.
WOOOOOT! LUNCH!! Love Rugby. Wish I could find a decent channel for the sport.
Get Kodi and SportsDevil or https://www.jokerlivestream.com/joker-rugby-live-streaming-2.html
I think whole food plant based, with a lucky bird or mammal thrown in for fat or protein once in a while, was the way people ate. The ones who had the best social groups so more people and kids had access to the best hunters, probably became smarter and smarter over generations, though. The evidence is in that animal fat and protein is frontal lobe food. This may be only effective in early childhood or it may well play a part through middle age, helping to prevent dementias. Who knows?
Oh YUCK...that sounds awful, but to each his or her own.
Don’t knock it till you have tried it. No fish flavor. Just umame. Think Maggi or Worcestershire or MSG. Just richens the dish.
You're lucky that I know what umame means! :-)
Is Maggi like GRAVY MASTER? I'm unfamiliar with Maggi.
The “lion meat “ was actually long pork.
Similar, but Maggi is a lot more concentrated and has loads more umame and loads more salt.
I did look up Maggi, but am still utterly unfamiliar with it and I don't think that I've EVER seen it sold anywhere I have ever lived; not even in a specialty store. And nobody in my immediate family has ever used it.
Clear stuff? No way. None of that thanks. The sediment is the tasty part. It is like training wheels to go with clear.
;-)
So I guess these gladiators made an ash out of themselves.
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