Fat Gladiators

[Pertinax]

First catch your Pict ,then fatten him up.

 

Unless he was cheap and you wanted a good death ?

In which case he'd probably bite your ankles

[Cleopatra Aelia]

I always go back to a special I saw that featured an excavation of a Gladiator burial ground. They were able to tell some of the wounds, the deathblows, and more importantly, the diet. The Barley gruel was meant to fatten them up, but dont think of them as the overweight people that todays society thinks of. They were extremely strong, and, as alluded to above, the fat allowed cuts, punctures, and blunt blows to have less of an affect on the vital organs.

 

I guess you refer to a documentary about the excavation of a gladiatorial cemetery in Ephesus by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. They found out about the diet of the buried person by examining something in the bones, as well what type of sports/profession he did by seeing that some parts of the bones were thicker due to some stress which was on the bones caused by the specific movements of that profession. You still have these things today at professional athletes.

[Pertinax]

there are also tell tale stress striations on the vertebrae

[Legionnaire]

Hi,

 

I think the idea of a "fat" or "thick" gladiator is mostly the product of stereotypical views of Europeans. People of the modern age generally associate martial arts with the Asian world, believing, astoundingly, that Europeans created no indigenous martial arts. Finesse, skill, technique, and mastery are associated with the Orient; brute strength and even incompetence or ignorace are associated with the West. This statement comes from experience: people are just completely unaware of European martial arts and the skill of knights, legionnaires, or gladiators. The pinnacle of the warriors is seen as the samurai, the ninja (which, in fact, is a creation of ancient Japanese theatre), or the shaolin monk. Thus, in order for Europeans to have been successful in combat, people believe, they must have been strong and fat, able to deliver powerful blows with dull, heavy swords and other weapons and able to receive harmful strikes without suffering much damage. This is absolutely ridiculous.

 

The idea that gladiators had high fat percentages strikes me, again, as preposterous. Barley is quite low in fat, relatively high in proteins, and, as a wheat product, high in carbohydrates. Therefore, barley is an excellent component of an athlete's diet. Furthermore, gladiators trained, exercised, and performed continuously: the strains of fighting would undoubtedly contribute to incredible fitness among the athletes. In summary, the notion of a fat gladiator is myth.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

 

 

Additional Information

 

Nutritional Analysis of Barley

Serving Size: 1 cup cooked pearly barley

Calories - 193

Protein - 3.5 grams

Fat - 0.7 gram

Cholesterol - 0

Carbohydrate - 44.3 grams

Dietary Fiber - 9 grams

Calcium - 17 mg

Iron - 2 mg

Magnesium - 35 mg

Phosphorus - 85 mg

Potassium - 145 mg

Sodium - 5 mg

Zinc - 1.2 mg

Niacin - 3.2 mg

Folic Acid - 26mcg

 

Images of Gladiators: Note the muscle tone

[caldrail]

Gladiators as a whole tended to be large men. Obviously a big bloke is going to find it easier to carry armour and shield rather than a seven stone weakling, never mind wield a weapon with some force. Lanistas used to feed them a diet of barley, which will fatten up a man noticeably. A layer of fat was considered a good defence against minor sword cuts.

 

The retiarius on the other hand, was different. He needed to be agile and quick, so a layer of fat wasn't desired in his case. Lanistas also liked to put pretty boys into retiarii training because their face was visible. Although despised by the blokes as a cowardly way of fighting, the ladies would swoon as he strut his stuff in the arena. Pretty boys need to be slim - as today, fat men have more of a problem attracting womens attention.

 

Bestiarii and Venators? Apparently agility wasn't always required according to mosaics, which strikes me as odd because I would expect agility to be vital when facing off against a carnivore twice your weight.

Edited March 30, 2006 by caldrail

[Pertinax]

A note on barley as a dietary item: those who have kept and fed horses will be aware that "shortness of wind" arises from using a barley based feed, and that if activity is required the animal should have less barley in its diet. In human consumers of the grain the high gluten content tends to retard the digestion ie: you have to work at it! Oxygen gets diverted to the gut to do the hefty work -you know the feeling after a big meal as oxygen is not as freely available at the extremities and you feel sleepy.

My suggestion is therefore that first you fatten up your Gladiator with a barley gruel but, if he needs to be fleet of foot , you will then perhaps need to wean towards a high protein/brassica diet. Hopefully the gladiators didnt sleep too close together therefore

[caldrail]

Gladiators must have been fit men. Going toe to toe is strenuous activity and certainly not good unless you've had the correct brand of breakfast cereal

 

And it is true that long one-on-one fights were interspersed with brief rest periods, so even as fit as they were it was sometimes a long slog. The 'blink-and-its-over' style of Russel Crowe heroism isn't anywhere close to reality. The roman crowd would have booed, not cheered. We came for a fight, not a five second massacre!

 

About digestion though - joking aside - I've never seen recorded anywhere exactly when the gladiators were fed on the day. Ok, they had a slap-up meal the night before (although I suspect this was only the paid contract fighters, not the poor POW's about to be dispensed with). Did they have a snack before their fight? Would they have wanted one? Men about to fight for their lives tend to get very focused.