8. Romans Believed A Gladiator’s Blood Would Cure Epilepsy
There’s no known cure for epilepsy, but there are ways to help with the symptoms with modern technology. Before our technological advances, Romans had a different idea of what would cure the disease. When a gladiator was cut down, it was common for spectators to see someone run towards him and start drinking his blood like a vampire. Romans were often told that the blood of a gladiator would cure epilepsy. They had to drink the blood directly from a wound in the gladiator’s body.
Gladiators who had been gutted was a different story. Many from the crowd would rush to gain a piece of the man’s liver. But why the liver? The liver would then be sold to those to suffered epilepsy. Those who suffered the disease would be told to take nine separate doses of the gladiator’s liver to be free of the disease. Sad to say, that idea didn’t work and they continued to have a life with seizures. All that liver eating and blood drinking for nothing.
