The Gladiators Were Vegetarians

The Gladiators are associated with strength, endurance and hard training - they are real fighting machines. Spartak like gladiators were a kind of sports heroes and Gladiator medicine is probably the first form of organized sports medicine. It would be expected that the diet of these fighters out of the arena based on proteins, however, the analysis of archaeological finds of their bones, says something quite the opposite.

Strontium is present in greater concentration in plant food than animal tissues, and bones contain twice as many fights strontium bone than their contemporaries. Thus, the gladiators were vegetarians. This is confirmed by the record of Roman historian Pliny, who calls them hordearii - those who eat barley.

Similarly, is the Roman soldiers, legionaries who spent 5000-6000 kcal per day, and 78% of their food ration comprised carbohydrates, mainly barley and wheat.