Blood, Sweat, and Sex: A Note on the Erotic Power of Gladiator Sweat

Abstract

Abstract There is no ancient evidence that corroborates the frustratingly popular claim that Romans collected and sold gladiator sweat as an aphrodisiac, and the claim itself only exists as an amalgam of the following facts: (1) athletes’ gloios was collected and sold for medicinal purposes, (2) gladiators were objects of erotic desire, and (3) gladiator-themed Roman vessels were fairly popular. Any attempt to construe those observations into support for aphrodisiac gladiator sweat is countered by the fact that (1) the collection and use of gloios was viewed by Pliny as a disgusting Greek (not Roman) practice, (2) no source records the collection of gloios from gladiators, (3) gloios has no recorded aphrodisiac usages, and (4) the only evidence for magico-medical uses of gladiatorial fluids are not erotic and call for their blood, not sweat. Moreover, the claim that Romans collected and sold gladiator sweat does not predate the early 2000s and may have its origins in an article from Sports Illustrated.