A gladiator’s diet

[guy]

There was a previous discussion of the typical gladiator’s diet (see below):

Here’s an excellent entertaining and informative video on the gladiator’s diet.
 

 

 

[caldrail]

Interesting. I agreed with a lot of the commentary but I should add some observations. The meal described shows some culinary flair despite the basic nature of it. I can imagine a star/veteran gladiator  being fed that way, but I wonder if gladiators of the more common status were likewise supplied. Gladiators were slaves after all, and as such, legally the same status as animals. Barley as a more basic meal (without the fava beans) would have predated the first recorded gladiatorial contest in 264BC.

Gladiators were not common as soldiers. Slaves were not eligible as soldiers and ordinary legionaries would not fight alongside them. It was a tactic of desperation.