“Unveiling the Blood and Glory: The Untold Realities of Life as a Gladiator in Ancient Rome”
As for health, their diet and conditions were regulated to ensure they were healthy as possible. For example, many cities famed for gladiator schools were coastal cities, with the fresh air supposedly healthier for the gladiators. Gladiator diet was very barley-heavy, to the point of “barley-men” becoming a nickname for these fighters. As to why such a diet, it was said that barley fattened the arteries and made it harder for the gladiators to bleed to death. However, in reality, barley was probably used because it was cheap. This was important as Gladiators ate a lot, even more than the average soldier, to the point that they could put a stress on regions undergoing famine.
To help regulate their diet and ensure the gladiators were in good health, the schools hired physicians and cooks. On the former, no greater a physician than Galen, considered by many the greatest medical researcher of his era, worked for a gladiator school for a time. Notably, Galen doubted the barley diet was optimal here, and worked to change the diet of his gladiators. In the process of his work here, he gained invaluable experience, which helped him develop his medical theories beyond.
Another facet of maintaining good health was massage, with masseuses employed by the schools to help ensure the gladiators were fighting in top form.
Going back to the schools themselves, as gladiator combat became more popular, and politicians saw its potential as a political tool, upper classes, and even the empire itself, bought schools from their original lanistae. In fact, Julius Caesar himself owned a school of about a thousand gladiators. It was such a part of his political career that other senators attempted to limit his promotions indirectly by legally limiting how many gladiators could be in combat at any given time.
