ROMAN Gladiators were not at all ripped like the Hollywood heart-throbs who play them — but were actually “quite fat”, a historian has revealed.
Dr Harry Sidebottom says colosseum fighters, who some believe hailed emperors before they fought to the death with the words “for those about to die, we salute you”, would try to pile on the pounds to protect their bodies.
The Oxford lecturer and Roman fiction author told History Extra magazine: “A gladiator was very much not the ripped Hollywood star.
“They were fed sagina — barley and bean stew.
“It was carbohydrate- rich and designed to build up a thick layer of subcutaneous (under skin) fat, the idea being that gladiators could take a wound and bleed in almost a cinematic, visual way without the blade reaching any vital organs.
“So they were quite fat.”
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It means that cinemagoers have been fed unrealistic scenes over the years as Hollywood actors have flaunted chiseled bodies to play gladiators on the big screen.
Russell Crowe even said he lost more than 18kg through fight training preparing for his Oscar-winning role of Maximus in Sir Ridley Scott’s 2000 Gladiator film.
Dr Sidebottom also rubbished the idea that fighters were “perfect specimens” with good looks.
While he admits that they were still often seen as sex symbols by Roman society, he added that not much else about them would have been typically attractive, either today or back then.
He said the brawlers would have been scarred and have looked lop-sided from the amount of training they endured — building up their sword arm.
The historian added: “They might have looked almost deformed from the amount of training they did.
“They actually became attractive almost because of the fact they were not conventionally pretty.”
