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Some ancient Romans reportedly drank hot blood from a wounded gladiator in hopes of treating epilepsy—but this was a reported remedy, not a belief shared by all Romans or a treatment shown to work. The clearest account comes from the medical writer Celsus, while another ancient physician, Scribonius Largus, is described as rejecting such remedies as outside medicine.
What did Celsus say about gladiator blood?
In On Medicine 3.23.7, Celsus wrote that some people had sought relief from epilepsy by drinking hot blood from a gladiator’s cut throat. The University of Chicago-hosted reference page gives the translation: “Some have freed themselves from such a disease by drinking the hot blood from the cut throat of a gladiator: a miserable aid made tolerable by a malady still most miserable.” Read the cited passage in Celsus.
That wording matters: Celsus reports what some people did or believed, not a universal Roman custom. His grim description also signals that the remedy was disturbing, rather than presenting it as an ordinary or respectable cure.
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Was this a widely accepted Roman medical treatment?
The surviving accounts do not show consensus. A University of Chicago-hosted reference page says Scribonius Largus condemned remedies involving gladiator blood or liver as outside the profession of medicine, contrasting his position with Celsus’s report. The evidence therefore points to competing views, not an agreed medical standard. See the reference page on Scribonius Largus.
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A 2003 review by medical historians Ulrich Moog and Wolfgang Karenberg says medical and theological authors from the first through sixth centuries discussed consuming gladiator blood or liver for epilepsy. This indicates that the idea appeared in accounts across several centuries; it does not establish how common the practice was. Read the review record on PubMed.
Why might people have thought it worked?
Ancient reports document a belief and a claimed practice, not medical efficacy. Moog and Karenberg note that spontaneous recovery in some forms of epilepsy could have made the remedy appear successful: if a seizure ended after someone took a supposed cure, the recovery might be credited to the remedy even when the timing was coincidental. That is a possible explanation for perceived benefit, not proof of what happened in any particular case.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does this differ from other ancient remedies?
Ancient references to human-derived remedies are not all the same recipe. Search-result text for Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, Book 28, mentions human blood in connection with epilepsy and separately attributes to Artemon a remedy involving water drunk from the skull of a slain man. Those accounts should not be merged with Celsus’s specific description of hot gladiator blood from a gladiator’s throat. The Pliny passage is not quoted here because its precise wording and section have not been confirmed in an accessible edition. Consult the Perseus text of Pliny’s Book 28.
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What the historical evidence establishes
- Celsus records that some people drank hot gladiator blood in hopes of addressing epilepsy.
- Ancient writers discussed blood- or liver-based remedies over a span from the first through sixth centuries, according to a 2003 scholarly review.
- At least one other medical authority, Scribonius Largus, is described as rejecting these remedies as outside medicine.
- None of these historical reports demonstrates that the practice was effective or safe.
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