>got as big as modern athletes on a daily diet consisting of nothing but
Got as big as modern athletes on a daily diet consisting of nothing but <80g of plant-based protein (beans and barley)...
Joseph Walker
Joshua Lopez
>got as big as modern athletes
Proof?
Ryan Watson
Nope
journals.plos.org
You can read the paper that said that here. They ate significant amounts of marine protein as well as meat and dairy.
Christopher Cook
Mostly genes.
Some people are naturally tall and muscular while eating very little food.
Camden Evans
>as big as modern athletes
Bentley Martin
First of all how big they were was probably fantasy for the most part.
Second of all there is some truth to their muscle mass. When men are put into dangerous situations their testosterone increases, we examined this in prison.
Jeremiah Gomez
*only two examined individuals showed 15N levels consistent with regular meat/fish consumption, with the remainder showing depleted 15N levels characteristic of reliance on legumes for protein, with the authors concluding that "gladiators were mainly vegetarian" had some exceptions but was still a generally-applicable rule as also stated in contemporary writings
Xavier Howard
>"Our gladiators eat a great deal of this food every day, making the condition of their body fleshy – not compact, dense flesh like pork, but flesh that is somehow more flabby."
Jeremiah Perry
They were funnelled into a highly selective environment where only the best and strongest genes survived to fight another day. A lot of them were already slaves and soldiers from enemy forces that were already selected along those lines. They didn't just pick any old scrap to be gladiators. They sold their strongest and toughest slaves into that life.
I mean, to be a gladiator of any renown you'd have generally have had to survived mortal combat, perhaps many times before being captured, marched in unfavourable conditions to where you were sold and then put through a ludus to face gruelling training... Otherwise you were just cheap fodder there to be cut down by the big boys.
Logan Garcia
>As big as modern athletes
Dude, fucking *Caesar* was 5'7". The bar was way fucking lower, pun absolutely intended, before the 20th century gave us the dietary freedom to eat the right food in the amounts that a hunter-gatherer evolutionary path intended. That's why the romans pissed themselves whenever they had to face Celts & Germans, because those *barbarians* grew & killed their own food, and as a result, they were GIANTS to the romans (they averaged around 6'.)
Noah Johnson
Yeah, they were showmen. The crowd wanted edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting tension, not something that ends after the first real hit.
Putting a layer of adipose between the goods and the damage let the gladiators give each other some gnarly-looking, yet superficial, wounds.
Dominic Cooper
I'm pretty sure the reason why the romans hated fighting the germanic tribes so much was because they just ran them ragged in an endless wild goose chase like the 1st century equivalent of vietnamese infantrymen, not because they were bigger. Being a few inches taller doesn't make you immune to being stabbed in the gut after enemy throwing spears render your shield useless.
Anthony Jackson
Being almost a foot taller than the average roman prole is *absolutely* going to make a difference in hand-to-hand combat, and more importantly, the average roman prole holding the line is gonna know that when he sees them screaming towards him. Teutoburg aside, the Germans weren't exactly renowned for their tactical genius; there's a reason the great sackers almost all spent time learning the ropes in the roman legion. What made them scary was the fear factor of having to face them.
Daniel Price
The average roman prole is, depending on the period, a well disciplined legionary stood in a balls tight scutum wall with a pilum in his hand waiting well and ready to fuck up a taller barbarian covered in shit screaming and running towards him.
Like you said size doesn't matter when you're tactically illiterate and running balls out against a tightly organised wall of sharpened iron javelins and impenetrable shield walls.
They might be a few inches taller but it doesn't matter when their shields are fucking useless and you're stabbing them in the guts from behind a relatively safe tactical formation. There were way worse campaigns than fighting the germans.
Austin Evans
What you're describing, user, is what used to be called the trade-off between civilisation and a savage state. Rome couldn't field anywhere near as many competent fighters as the barbarian tribes, which is why they fielded more people in better armour. Even then, looking at the record of Germans V Romans, it was hardly the wash you're trying to present it as- there's a reason the romans started hiring out to fill their military needs.
But getting back to the original point- which is a point you seem to have missed- when you're facing an army that's got near a foot on you, it's not going to be a pleasant experience whether you're in formation or not. Go read the Conquest of Gaul- see how the legions under the protection of one of the greatest generals of the age weighed their odds against the Suebi. Advantage or not, the fact that they'd win notwithstanding- they were almost literally PISSING THEMSELVES at the thought of having to face them. My original point is a matter of historical fact.
Isaac Gomez
Rome used to be able to field as many fighters
the Roman ruling class fucked the average Roman so much that the citizen soldier basically disappeared
Rome was able to raise an army of nearly 100,000 at Cannae, but could stop the Visigoths when its population was over a million
Henry Morales
gladiators were fat slaves. the beans and barley made them fat which was advantageous to protect their vital organs
Nicholas Lopez
>Rome was able to raise an army of nearly 100,000 at Cannae
...That's the example you're going with?
Your point isn't even true; Roman legions started ballooning after Cannae- The Marian reforms moved the army away from being an ad-hoc thing, raised by conscription as and when they were needed, to being a professional body of volunteers, and the extension of Roman citizenship increased the pool of volunteers. Which is why generals start taking over the show in the late republic.
To give you an example, *Eighty-six* thousand romans (including roman allies) fought at Cannae, and that was easily the largest army Rome had ever put to field, to face their greatest crisis in a time of unprecedented danger, pulling out all the stops, patricians selling & melting their jewelry for the war effort, etc. A big deal, basically.
Whereas, by the end of the republic, Augustus had 20 legions of 6,000 men each. A number he cut down FROM 50 after the civil wars.
Shit got crazy.
Michael Fisher
Omar Isuf has a series on History Channel were he explains they were well taken care of.
Asher Butler
That's an amazing story user, now take your medication.
Nathaniel Robinson
So why dont you follow their diet and training routine for a year and post result?
Nothing is stopping you.
Oh yes something is stopping you. You are a lazy faggot who couldnt get gains in the gym so you think you'll get jacked eating stale bread and swinging your toy lightsaber around for 20 mins a day larping as a Spartan.
Jeremiah Clark
Start with the Greeks.
James Bailey
>spears render
The romans threw javelins, Germanics and Celts fought with spears as hand held weapons. Some guy 6-8 inches taller than you with an 8ft spear even if you can form a shield wall is a formidable foe.
Hunter Sanders
they were likely malnourished and did not actually get as big as modern athletes and their stories were likely embellished.
Carter Ross
>Celts and Germans
>posts meme about britons
Read the books before you try and throw them, you honorary brit.
Isaac James
lot of cope itt lol