HISTORIC DISCOVERY SHOWS THAT FANS AT COLOSSEUM ATE PIZZA 2,000 YEARS AGO

History often mystifies us even more when a new discovery bridges an unexpected gap, and makes the ancient somehow even more unfamiliar.  And while you may have heard that there were recent excavations of the sewer and water system at the Colosseum in Rome, you may not have heard one of the most interesting details.  The excavations revealed a great deal of ancient poo, which makes sense.  But that poo has given us new insights into what Gladiator fans had to eat while they watched these well-trained killer slaves literally butcher each other.  Yet meat, nuts, olives and vegetables aren’t that surprising.  But pizza?

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ROMANS ATE PIZZA WHILE WATCHING THIER FAVORITE PASTIME, GLADIATOR SLAUGHTER

Pizza has been a staple, popular food item in the west for decades.  Everyone eats pizza.  Now, you can find a pizza place almost anywhere in the world, though they may be at one of several chains originating in the United States.  People eat pizza at almost any time of day, and it’s available at any major sports event for fans to eat while they watch the competition and athletes perform.  Getting a few slices to watch feels like a contemporary pastime, something simply normal in the modern era.  But it turns out that this isn’t an American (Italian) and international pastime.  It’s a pastime from ancient Rome’s Colosseum, and instead of tackles or slam dunks, fans ate pizza while men (and some women) killed each other as entertainment.

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WHAT MANY THOUGH WAS A MODERN STAPLE WAS NORMAL IN ANCIENT ROMAN COLOSSEUM

Hence something we take for granted as a normal part of our lives is actually a couple thousand years old.  And now every time I have a slice of pizza at a basketball game and cheer, I’ll remember at least briefly how people did the same thing 2,000 years ago.  Except they were cheering a disembowelment, decapitation, or full body exsanguination.  That is a bridge to the past no one expected.  And it’s one that makes the past somehow more unfamiliar for being so similar, yet appallingly different.  Are you not entertained?