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Fighting in the Arena - Analyzing Skeletons of Roman gladiators P1 – With Dr Fabian Kanz (S01E05)
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Maybe you know the movie “The Game changers” by UFC-fighter James Wilks. The premise of this documentary was him finding out, that roman gladiators ate very little to no meat. Before this, James Wilks was sure that animal protein was essential for the upkeep of energy levels, the growth of muscles and the healing from injuries. But after reading recent research papers on the subject, he was convinced that the gladiators had a predominantly plant-based diet during training and fights in the arena. Which in term led him to promote a vegan diet for modern day top athletes in his movie.
But is this actually true, were the gladiator’s “vegan”? In this episode we will lock at primary sources, results from analyzed bone samples and talk with Dr. Fabian Kanz, the researcher, who wrote the article James Wilks based “The Game changers” on and who is actually featured in the movie alongside people like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Reverences:
- Lösch et al. (2014), Stable Isotope and Trace Element Studies on Gladiators and Contemporary Romans from Ephesus (Turkey, 2nd and 3rd Ct. AD) – Implications for Differences in Diet
- Meller, Sampaolo (2013), Gladiator. Looking on death every day
- Kanz, Grossschmidt (2009), Dying in the Arena: The Osseous Evidence from Ephesian Gladiators
- Nossov (2009), Gladiator. Rome’s bloody spectacle
- Ville (1981), La gladiature en Occident des origines à la mort de Domitien
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Transcript
Gladiators' Diet: Plant-Based Focus
00:00:08
Speaker
Fighting in the Arena, analyzing skeletons of Roman gladiators part one. Maybe you've also seen the movie The Game Changers from 2018 from UFC fighter James Wilkes. The premise of the movie was him finding out that ancient Roman gladiators ate very little to no meat.
00:00:33
Speaker
Before this, James Wilkes was sure that animal protein was essential for the upkeep of energy levels, the growth of muscles and the healing from injuries. But after reading recent research papers on this subject, he was convinced that the gladiators had a predominantly plant-based diet during training and fights in the arena.
00:00:58
Speaker
which in turn led him to promote a vegan diet for modern day top athletes in his movie. But is this actually true? Were gladiators, quote, vegan? In this episode we look at primary sources, results from analyzed phone samples and talk with Dr. Fabian Kantz, the researcher who wrote the paper James Wilkes based The Game Changers on,
00:01:26
Speaker
and who is actually featured in his movie alongside people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example. Here's already a teaser of our interesting conversation. The news not to realize his story. There was he mentioned that there is that the fighters after the fight to reduce their muscle pain supplement and ash drink. And I think ash drink fits perfectly because
00:01:54
Speaker
Ash is just the mineral which is left over after burning and today if you go in an apothec or a drugstore and you buy some fizzy calcium magnesium tablets for you after sport, it's pretty much the same.
Life and Training of Gladiators
00:02:31
Speaker
But before we get into their diet, who actually were gladiators and how did one end up in the arena? Basically, gladiators were mainly made up of prisoners of war, slaves and condemned offenders. The Roman jurisdiction forced people to fight in the arena for crimes like murder, robbery or defilement of a temple.
00:02:58
Speaker
The sentencing varied depending on the offense. Damnatus ad gladium meant that offenders would meet their doom from a sword by a professional gladiator. Others from wild animals with the sentence Damnatus ad bestias.
00:03:15
Speaker
Unarmed and mostly lacking any training, they had no chance of surviving. There was, however, a third possibility to be sent to a gladiatorial school, Tomnatus at Ludum. After one or two years of training in the Ludus, the gladiator school, a convict was to fight in the arena for some three years.
00:03:40
Speaker
If, by the end of this term, he was still alive, he could be awarded a wooden sword called Rudis as a sign of his liberation. There was even a number of people volunteering to be gladiators, probably looking for fame and fortune.
00:03:58
Speaker
But being mostly sentenced offenders, gladiators inhabited tiny, crowded cells in the ludus. Trainees were coached by doctoris, generally ex-gladiators themselves, and the weapons used in training were blunt, often made of wood, weighing twice as much as real fighting ones.
Gladiator Classes and Equipment
00:04:21
Speaker
After months of training, the fighters were divided into different categories with different armaments and fighting styles. Here's an overview of five of the most popular types of gladiators, often depicted on ancient mosaics, graffiti on walls in Pompeii, or even popular movies like Spartacus or Gladiator with Russell Crowe, for example.
00:04:50
Speaker
The Trax was equipped with a big helmet, small rectangular shield and high leg guards. His sword arm was protected with a padded sleeve called Manica, often made of cloth or leather. His weapon was a crooked sword. This unusual form made it especially effective
00:05:15
Speaker
against the large shield of the Murmillo, the usual opponent of the frecs. The Murmillo had a large decorated helmet with grills that protected his eye openings. The left shin was protected by a short leg guard and the sword arm again by a padded sleeve.
00:05:39
Speaker
The Murmillo bore a large rectangular shield, a copy of the Roman legionaries Scutum, which could weigh up to 8 kilograms. He was armed with a short sword. The total weight of his equipment is estimated to be up to 18 kilograms.
00:06:01
Speaker
Another type of gladiator typically facing off against the Murmillo fighter was the Hoplomakus, who was armed with a lance and a small round shield. In addition, he also carried a short sword for close combat. His legs were protected by two high-leg guards and he also wore a padded sleeve on his sword arm.
00:06:28
Speaker
We come to another pair of gladiators typically facing off against each other, the Secutor and the Retiarios.
00:06:39
Speaker
The helmet of the zecutor type of gladiator was especially thick and heavy. Examples found in Pompeii weighed up to 5 kilograms, making them around twice as heavy as the ones used by Roman legionaries. Vision for the zecutor was made possible by two small round openings, but breathing must have been difficult because of the lack of breathing holes.
00:07:08
Speaker
Armed with the same big shield as the Murmillo and a short sword, he had to try to force a quick decision against his opponent, the lightly armored and highly mobile Retiarios. This explains his name, Secutor, or Pursuer in English.
00:07:28
Speaker
Finally, the retiarios was one of the most popular types of gladiators. His distinctive weaponry consisted of a net and trident. Only a metal shoulder guard and padding on the left arm offered him little protection. He also carried a short sword for fighting at close quarters.
00:07:52
Speaker
His light equipment was compensated by his mobility, which he could put to good use against the Sekutor, who was heavily armored but seriously restricted by his heavy helmet. Alright, I hope this quick overview gave you some idea of the equipment and fighting styles commonly used by gladiators.
00:08:16
Speaker
But to come back to our original question, during all that intense training, what did they actually eat to remain in fighting form?
Nickname 'Barley Eaters' and Primary Diet
00:08:26
Speaker
From Roman authors, we know that they consumed a specific diet. This gladiatorium saginum, gladiators' food, included mainly barley beans and bell beans.
00:08:40
Speaker
Their consumption of barley even led to their derogatory nickname, Hordiarii, meaning barley eaters. Galenus of Pergamum, a physician who lived in the second century AD, also describes a beverage specifically made for gladiators. It was made with bone ash and vinegar and was apparently usually served after fights.
00:09:07
Speaker
But are these accounts actually true? Can we believe something that was written down almost two thousand years ago? To investigate this, we turn to an actual graveyard of gladiators, which was found in 1993 in ancient Ephesus, located in modern-day Turkey.
00:09:29
Speaker
In the next episode we will focus extensively on this interesting site, so for now let me just tell you that the bones of at least 66 male individuals were excavated, most of which can be regarded as gladiators. They date between the 1st and 3rd century AD and were biochemically analyzed by researchers like our guest today Fabian Kantz.
00:09:57
Speaker
And maybe you remember how one can find out about dietary habits from bone samples, since we already talked about stable isotope analysis in episode 4, Meat for Warriors. But here's a quick recap of how it works. Isotopes from different elements of the food we consume are being incorporated into the collagen, the main protein in the bone.
00:10:25
Speaker
It's possible to extract and analyze this collagen from bones. Even after many centuries this can give us insights on the dietary habits of the diseased. Stable carbon isotopes, for example, provide important information about plant consumption.
00:10:45
Speaker
Among other aspects, the analysis of sulfur isotope ratios indicate seafood intake. And most important for our topic now are the nitrogen values, which reflect on the intake of animal protein like meat and dairy products.
00:11:05
Speaker
For the study of the arena fighter's diet, bone samples of 20 males from the gladiator cemetery were analyzed. Their results were also compared with 20 additional bone samples of non-gladiator males and females excavated from different cemeteries discovered in ancient Ephesus.
00:11:30
Speaker
to find out if the gladiator's diet actually differentiated from the one of ordinary citizens.
00:11:38
Speaker
Overall, the stable isotope data of gladiators and ordinary citizens do not differ significantly. All individuals consumed plants like wheat and barley as staple foods. This finding matches the mentioned nickname for the gladiators as barley eaters, though no significant difference with the non-gladiator individuals was detectable.
00:12:07
Speaker
The collagen of almost all individuals also showed low sulfur ratios. This could indicate that they did not consume much seafood, even though the city was close to the Aegean Sea.
00:12:22
Speaker
Only two gladiators and a female
Diverse Dietary Habits among Gladiators
00:12:25
Speaker
from the same cemetery had relatively high sulfur values, an indication that these three individuals had a different diet and probably consumed more fish and seafood.
00:12:39
Speaker
But now let's examine if the ancient authors and the movie The Game Changers are correct. Did gladiators actually have a mostly vegan diet?
00:12:53
Speaker
And, indeed, compared to other Roman sites, the nitrogen levels of the samples from Ephesus are relatively low, indicating lower consumption of animal protein. But there could be an interesting twist to that, since Galenus of Pergamon reported that gladiators did not get much meat, but that beans were an important nutrition component.
00:13:21
Speaker
and this could actually be a probable cause for the depletion of nitrogen, since peas and beans generally have very low nitrogen values and regular consumption of large amounts presumably lowers human nitrogen values considerably.
00:13:40
Speaker
And since peas and beans are relatively rich in protein, a combination with wheat or cereals could have led to a relatively high protein diet. And overall, these analyzed samples indicate that the gladiators appeared to be in a good nutritional state.
00:14:02
Speaker
But with a diet of mainly simple carbohydrates, one can assume that they did not look like the chiseled bodybuilders in the movies, but were rather bulky. Which actually could make sense, because fat can also protect you from cut wounds and shield nerves and blood vessels.
00:14:24
Speaker
However, two individuals from the gladiator graveyard or 10% of the samples show high nitrogen values indicating irregular consumption of animal proteins.
00:14:39
Speaker
Combined with the varying indications on seafood consumption, this leads to the conclusion that the gladiators from Ephesus were a very diverse group who consumed different kinds of foods.
00:14:56
Speaker
So overall the stable isotope analysis indicated a mixed diet with a high share of vegetables for the gladiators as well as for the reference group of contemporary Romans. But the additional trace element analysis revealed something unexpected, a significant difference between the strontium-calcium ratios.
00:15:23
Speaker
The levels for the gladiators is almost twice as high as for the ordinary citizens. Since no major difference in their overall diet was detected, a calcium source not detectable in the isotope analysis must be responsible for this anomaly.
00:15:45
Speaker
And so we come back to Galenus of Pergamon and his description of a gladiator beverage made with bone ash. As I mentioned, a gladiator spent several years in his life in the Ludus, the gladiator school.
00:16:03
Speaker
The consumption of this ash beverage during that period could be responsible for the exorbitant strontium-calcium ratios within the gladiator samples, since bone or ash is very rich in calcium.
00:16:21
Speaker
A feeding experiment on rats demonstrated how rapidly strontium supplementation increases its content in the bones. After five weeks on a high strontium diet, the rat's ratios had increased by 30 times.
00:16:40
Speaker
Similar studies were conducted on young pigs, mainly to enhance their bone strength. After five weeks of a high diet with strontium supplementation, strontium-cultium ratios of the pigs had increased more than fivefold.
00:16:59
Speaker
One could conclude that like many athletes today taking calcium supplements, also the gladiators drank these ash brews to keep their bones strong. In addition, there is evidence of increased bone density for bone under high mechanical stress.
00:17:20
Speaker
For example, it was observed that modern rugby players had a significantly accelerated formation of bone mineral content due to their intense training. Gladiators also underwent intense and constant training that included fighting, running and jumping in extra heavy armour and weapons.
00:17:45
Speaker
This caused high mechanical stress on their bones which then also could be responsible for an accelerated strontium-calcium level.
Dr. Fabian Kantz on Promoting Veganism
00:17:56
Speaker
So the situation is not as clear as may be depicted in the movie The Game Changers, with the gladiators actually showing rather diverse dietary habits. In addition, we need to keep in mind that most Roman citizens were predominantly vegetarian because of the high prices of meat.
00:18:19
Speaker
And especially in regards to gladiators being mostly sentenced offenders, it is highly unlikely that they received quote, better or more valuable food. As you see, there remain many open questions, which I discussed with today's guest, Dr. Fabian Kantz.
00:18:49
Speaker
Fabian, thank you very much for taking the time. And maybe before we get into the results of the biochemical analysis of the gladiator's bone samples from ancient deficits, I just have to ask about your experience appearing in the documentary, The Game Changers. For example, how did the contact with the producers get established? Did you get a call from, quote, Hollywood?
00:19:19
Speaker
In a way, yes. I mean, I think maybe two or three years before the documentary was even aired, Joseph Pace called me and said he's from Hollywood and they wanted to make a documentary to reduce the meat consumption in the US. And David Cameron is the
00:19:47
Speaker
James Cameron, not David Cameron, James Cameron is the producer. It must be a joke. But then he said, no, that's serious. There is a group of vegans in Hollywood of prominent vegans. And they want to do something for less meat consumption in the US society. That's a good idea. Reducing meat consumption is never the wrong thing.
00:20:15
Speaker
Yeah. And, uh, did you have a chance to meet, uh, the other people featured in the movie? Of course I'm thinking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example. Uh, unfortunately, or fortunately, I don't know. No, no, no. Oh yeah. Okay. Interestingly at the beginning, I think Schwarzenegger was not on board and also Hamilton and Jackie Chan and Chokovich.
00:20:44
Speaker
It just, I think that this was a project which took a couple of years and it was developing all the time. So at the end, it was a completely other project, I think than at the beginning.
00:20:58
Speaker
Ah, okay, okay. I did not know, yes. Now, in regards to the diet of the gladiators, I presented what we know from primary sources and results of your team's biochemical analysis. In your opinion, how sure can we be that they indeed had a mostly vegan diet?
00:21:22
Speaker
Wigan is the wrong thing. And if you listen closely to me in this documentary, the game changer, I say predominantly vegetarian, something different than Wigan. But to be honest, at that time, all Romans have been predominantly vegetarian because meat was very expensive.
00:21:46
Speaker
And so I think they had just the chance to eat a couple of times per year. And for the gladiator, it was quite the same. But, of course, we know that there are sources of talking about the predominant food every day. And it was barley and beans. And so I think that fits well with our results we found.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yes, that's also my opinion and that's what I intended to clear up a bit with this episode. Coming to the very interesting results of the trace element analysis, do you think the supplementation of calcium with the bone ash drink was in a way intended?
00:22:35
Speaker
do we know if the benefits of calcium supplementation with keeping the bones strong was already known in antiquity? We cannot present you if it was known at the
00:22:49
Speaker
fully understand, but there are just a few mentions in the in the text is in the historic texts, but there are mentions, for example, in the news, not to Alice Historia, there was he mentioned that there is that the fighters after the fight to reduce their muscle pain, supplement and ash drink. And I think ash drink fits perfectly because ash is just the mineral
00:23:19
Speaker
which is left over after burning. And today, if you go in an upper thick or a drug store and you buy some fizzy calcium magnesium tablets for you after sports, it's pretty much the same. If you take the ash and put it in some vinegar and water, and this was the normal drinking in the Roman times.
Upcoming Episode Preview
00:23:52
Speaker
Alright, that was it for the first part of our look at Roman gladiators and in that sense I hope you were entertained. Remember, for better understanding, for example on the different types of gladiators, you can head over to Instagram and look at some illustrations of what we discussed in this episode.
00:24:17
Speaker
But we will come back to the skeletons of the arena fighters from ancient Ephesus, because not only were their dietary habits analyzed, but also their specific causes of death. So get ready for a bit of a gory episode when we return with 23 minutes archaeology. And in order to keep the podcast going, I would be very grateful for your support on Patreon.