40 Facts about the Gladiators of Ancient Rome

4. Gladiators drank water mixed with ashes to get their strength back after a fight

According to the ancient writer and historian Pliny the Elder, gladiators had a unique way of getting back into peak fitness after a grueling fight. In his Natural History, he advised that a cup of water mixed with ashes was the perfect remedy for “abdominal cramps and bruises”. He continued “one can see how gladiators after a combat are helped by drinking this.” Notably, archaeologists have found evidence of high levels of calcium in their bones – proof, perhaps, that they really did drink foul-tasting ash drinks after a fight.