Gladiators and Blood!

While trying to find peer-reviewed articles on the liver of Piacenza I found this title and abstract:

Ferdinand Peter Moog and Axel Karenberg. Between Horror and Hope: Gladiator’s Blood as a Cure for Epileptics in Ancient Medicine, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Volume 12, Number 2 / June 2003. Pages: 137 – 143. DOI: 10.1076/jhin.12.2.137.15533

Between the first and the sixth century a single theological and several medical authors reported on the consumption of gladiator’s blood or liver to cure epileptics. The origins of the sacred or apoplectic properties of blood of a slain gladiator, likely lie in Etruscan funeral rites. Although the influence of this religious background faded during the Roman Republic, the magical use of gladiators’ blood continued for centuries. After the prohibition of gladiatorial combat in about 400 AD, an executed individual (particularly had he been beheaded) became the “legitimate” successor to the gladiator. Occasional indications in early modern textbooks on medicine as well as reports in the popular literature of the 19th and early 20th century document the existence of this ancient magical practice until modern times. Spontaneous recovery of some forms of epilepsy may be responsible for the illusion of therapeutic effectiveness and for the confirming statements by physicians who have commented on this cure.

Leicester doesn’t subscribe to J Hist Neurosci, so I thought to make a note of it and I can photocopy it when I’m next in Oxford. I could buy it online for £23, but I could get Vivian Nutton’s excellent book Ancient Medicine:mrgreen:

for less than that.