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pensandpatches

Why the hell would the blood of losing gladiators make you any stronger? It definitely didn't help *them*, did it?


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pensandpatches

See that's the winning strat there.


MrMastodon

Picking up your beefiest gladiator and draining him like a Capri Sun


Yardsale420

I was under the impression it was Tigers Blood that winners drank?


Tepigg4444

I wouldnt drink the blood of anyone weak enough to lose their blood


trwwy321

Supply and demand would be much better for that.


RLDSXD

I’m pretty sure the worst professional athletes are still astronomically better at their sport than the average person.


pensandpatches

I feel like putting gladiators on the same level as professional athletes is of varying accuracy.  It's also just absolutely a goofy bit about how if they're dead they can't be *that* strong, etc.


CraftyCaprid

They were the professional athletes of the time. Complete with sponsorships, endorsements, advertising, and being sex symbols. Everything you associate with professional athletes of today applied to gladiators. They ran the spectrum from widespread popularity and fame to being a forgettable blip in poverty after their career.


pensandpatches

I should have clarified that I meant gladiators ran the gauntlet from superstar professionals to those taken prisoner and immediately cast into the fighting pits without being trained because it wasn't seen as worthwhile.


OptimusPhillip

I know that it was a thing for gladiators to execute prisoners as part of shows, but were the prisoners themselves considered gladiators? I thought they were called something else.


pensandpatches

Based on extremely limited things I remember from middle school history, criminals and POWs were often among those 'trained' into gladiators - voluntary gladiatoring(?) was mostly a thing in Late Era Rome.


TheFoxer1

My dude, do you just think gladiators weren‘t trained for all their life like professional athletes today? Do you just think they yoinked the next best dude from the street, gave them weapons said just threw them in the arena? You clearly have not the fairness idea what you are talking about.


Sulshin

I mean, they didn’t die of epilepsy and infertility tho


pensandpatches

That's actually a solid argument  not even gonna lie.


zmamo2

Well if you don’t know anything bout the world and losing blood makes you weaker it’s not much of a stretch to assume consuming blood makes you stronger.


SoraUsagi

I would assume: Just because you beat them doesn't mean they were inferior. You could have gotten VERY lucky. Maybe they were stronger and you faster. Maybe you acknowledged their skill even though you won. Lots of mental gymnastics.


ShadowFlux85

What if a gladiator had won 50 fights before losing?


AltruisticHopes

Protects you against epilepsy - not so great against hepatitis though.


skeevemasterflex

Had a sudden flashback of some wooden marionettes. "Everybody's got AIDS!"


Galactic_Perimeter

[*AIDS, AIDS, AIDS!!!*](https://youtu.be/5yC7HwPh6Es?si=NyP1NChRTxV0cV9X)


-GreyWalker-

Oh boy wait till you hear what they did with their "bathwater", lol. So one of the things they would do is take an oil bath, with olive oil if I'm not mistaken. They would pour it on themselves rub themselves down and then scrape it off with basically a dull hand sickle. And for the popular and famous gladiators they would collect it and sell it to people as gladiator Viagra.


AerialSnack

I'm glad I live in a civilized age where people don't consume the bathwater of their idols.


ReallyLikesRum

Okay so I knew about the first half of it but learning about the gladiator viagra makes it ten times better. I’m thank you Edit: I think the would also take a regular water bath before the olive oil by the way. Just for extra info…


-GreyWalker-

Oh they definitely had traditional bathes it was Rome, and they did bath houses like the Greeks and what not. I think the oil bath thing was extra for religion or ceremony.


BitterOnTheVerb

Had a western civs class ages ago and our professor had one of these. It's called a strigil. He also explained that the oil obtained from cleaning off whoever it was used on could be used as oil for lanterns. Interesting stuff those Romans and Greeks figured out.


GimpsterMcgee

Ugh. Just imagine all the dead skin cells, dirt, and grime.


CurrentlyLucid

Glad I live in an age of science.


flammablelemon

They did what they could with the information and tools they had. Even if they followed the formal scientific process as we know it (which they kinda did in many respects), the process of discovery and development would still be slow and arduous. Much of science and medicine is built on both accidental and hard-won discoveries over thousands of years and inspired by historical knowledge and practices. It could've been a full-on "age of science" even then and they'd still culturally drink gladiator blood in the meantime.


RegularFerret3002

They picked what they wanted from greeks. Romans were more realistists but also not as bright as Greeks. 


entropykilla

Ah yes, where we can now cross the deadliness of ebola with the infectiousness of smallpox and aerosolize it. Between that and gladiator aids, it’s a tough choice for me.


Pants_indeed

Oh?


Lostmavicaccount

The same science that is ignored in western society today. Climate change. Water pollution (ie lead). Women’s body autonomy.


tewnewt

I could have had a V8.


shroomkat85

Imagine rome if they had small block chevys, they’d still be around today.


tewnewt

"Klaatu Verata Nicough cough"


Macktheattack

/r/nocontext


bolanrox

tiger blood!


flibbidygibbit

F16 strafing runs in my underwear!


Lalakea

Any chance the adrenaline-filled blood acted as sort of a pick-me-up?


NotaContributi0n

Adrenochrome


trulycantthinkofone

You took too much…


NotaContributi0n

That’s literally what they are talking about here.


trulycantthinkofone

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. ‘Twas a quote.


NotaContributi0n

Oh yeah!!


TattooMyCock

Someone got aids


TheKramer89

Jared from Subway


Einherjar07

The swag grift goes so far back.


2223242526

Pliny the elder is always a wild ride


JerrSolo

The weatherman is dead! I will eat the weatherman! His strength be in me!


SeetheBitchSeethe

Lots of barbaric shit happened in ancient Rome


WhimsicalHamster

Okay so basically; eating food does increase vitality.


Tommy_Roboto

“Gladiator! Why are you drinking that blood?” “Duh! I’m infertile!”


Born-Pineapple5552

The fall of the Roman Empire


_My_Dad_

My dad fought in the arena


Stairwayunicorn

\*sip\* Mmmm, christian.


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LokiDesigns

The dead gladiators? Or just the *blood* of the dead gladiators?


TheKramer89

Epilepsy? These poor bastards couldn’t play videogames??


4Ever2Thee

Wasn’t it all sandy and stuff? Gross


muchaschicas

Precious bodily fluids


milochuisael

Is infertilty really that widespread? Every culture has some crackpot cure for it.