Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sports Field

Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by hx8 on Monday April 07, 2025 @01:57PM (#43614123)

Actually bread was the most common issue for poor dental hygiene at this time.

Flour was ground by stone, tiny pieces of stone made its way into the bread, and the stone stripped the enamel from teeth.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by readthenotes1 on Monday April 07, 2025 @02:24PM (#43614403)

And still not as dangerous as adding sugar to everything

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by hx8 on Monday April 07, 2025 @02:30PM (#43614459)

I wouldn't trade my diet for the diet of a roman. The estimated 500ml wine/daily is very high.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by fnordlord on Monday April 07, 2025 @03:19PM (#43614892)

Less than a bottle/day. Not something I do but not something I wouldn't do either.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by FirmwareBurner on Monday April 07, 2025 @03:16PM (#43614847)

> The estimated 500ml wine/daily is very high.

My dad and grandad would laugh at this. 500ml/day is rookie numbers in the former Roman parts of Eastern Europe.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by seszett on Monday April 07, 2025 @03:29PM (#43614980)

Your dad might not be the best example of a healthy lifestyle.

Because they (and many other people) drank more than that, doesn't mean it's a good diet. The Romans drank they wine cut with water though I think.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by frenchwhisker on Monday April 07, 2025 @03:30PM (#43614996)

Roman wine was heavily diluted though, at least.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by hx8 on Monday April 07, 2025 @04:14PM (#43615481)

The 500ml is the undiluted amount [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome_and_wine

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by foobahify on Monday April 07, 2025 @03:35PM (#43615040)

Yes maybe it is more like a pint of weak beer per day by modern alcohol standards. Not great for you but maybe a good source of clean water.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by sva_ on Monday April 07, 2025 @06:20PM (#43616576)

German breweries gave their workers an allowance of 4 to 8 liters of beer per day not too long ago. ('Haustrunk')

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by hx8 on Monday April 07, 2025 @08:49PM (#43617361)

Often when the conversation of drinking comes up it becomes a contest to see who can drink the most. The WHO actually keeps track of this data on a population level[0]. Right now the country with the highest alcohol consumption per capita is Romania, with an average consumption of >2.9 units of alcohol a day for the entire population 15 years old or older. In case there is some national pride in your comment about Germany, rest assured they are 5th place. I'll leave the readers to decide if that is an enviable position.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_c...

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by HeyLaughingBoy on Monday April 07, 2025 @01:59PM (#43614153)

ugh!

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by disambiguation on Monday April 07, 2025 @06:09PM (#43616497)

So youre saying micro stones in the food supply were causing a public health crisis?

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by nickpinkston on Monday April 07, 2025 @07:18PM (#43616927)

Underrated comment

And yes, this was a real thing.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by globalise83 on Monday April 07, 2025 @02:58PM (#43614702)

Sugar (cane or refined) wasn't really a thing in the Roman period, even for those who could theoretically have afforded it.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by adrian_b on Monday April 07, 2025 @03:17PM (#43614868)

Pliny the Elder described sugar, but he said that it was used only for medicinal purposes, presumably because having to be imported from India through Arabia it was available only in small quantities and at high prices.

However, besides the more expensive honey, boiled concentrated grape juice was widely used as a sweetener, for most purposes where today sugar would be used.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by hoseja on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @03:42AM (#43619287)

Oh wow, why did I think sugarcane is a New World crop? Apparently from Papua.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by ashoeafoot on Monday April 07, 2025 @05:16PM (#43616042)

They had a very toxic replacement though, basically grape juice sirup rendered down in lead kettles.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by analog31 on Monday April 07, 2025 @07:51PM (#43617098)

Indeed, lead acetate is an artificial sweetener.

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Re:Mass Grave of 150 Roman Soldiers Found Under Vienna Sport... by adrian_b on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @03:53AM (#43619354)

While some had indeed the very bad idea of using lead vessels for boiling the juice, both because lead vessels were cheaper and because that might have enhanced the sweetness, due to the taste of lead acetate, it is unlikely that this was a widespread practice.

Grape juice concentrated and sterilized by boiling has been used for millennia as the main sweetener instead of the more expensive honey, and in most cases the vessels used for boiling must have been made of healthier materials, e.g. bronze in the more ancient times, then cheaper brass during the Roman times.

In the warmer countries of the Middle East, boiled concentrated date juice was used instead of grape juice.

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