GLADIATOR BLOOD CURES EPILEPSY

Enabling Romans to fight illness since the 1st century CE

ROME

Epileptics in the Roman Empire didn’t need to worry, there was a cure on hand. The blood of fallen gladiators (or sometimes their livers) apparently held the properties needed to rid sufferers of their ailment. It didn’t just happen once, either; multiple ancient historians reported this working. But why?

It most definitely didn’t work – it’s much more likely that a series of spontaneous recoveries made the Romans believe it was successful. But what the Romans themselves saw was a religious experience. Gladiator bouts had started as Etruscan funeral games and their religious significance continued into the Roman period. As a result, the fighters’ blood was thought to have near-magical properties.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and when gladiator fighting went out of style around 400 CE, executed individuals took their place and the ‘cure’ carried on.