8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The rich-poor distinction draws attention in the nutrition of the inhabitants of the Ancient City of Pergamon

The hegemony of wealth to the poor, arising from the ruler, elite structure, property ownership, unjust acquisition, and distribution of resources, which began to be seen with the transition to settled life, became more evident in the Ancient Age.

The structure, which constitutes the political and economic structure of the Roman Empire, separated people with a sharp line within the society. The citizen Roman was always advantageous over the individual belonging to the other lower class. This sharpness was not only seen in the lower part but even in itself. Even the diet of the wealthy Roman is a phenomenon that shows this sharpness.

Nutrition of the people of the Ancient City of Pergamon helps distinguish the rich from the poor

Research on the skeletons unearthed in the ongoing excavations in the Ancient City of Bergama, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, helps to understand the health conditions, diseases, and eating habits of the city people.

Professor Wolf Rüdiger Teegen, Specialist in Prehistoric Protohistory and Roman Archeology at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, conducts research on the nutrition of ancient people. Photo: AA
Professor Wolf Rüdiger Teegen, Specialist in Prehistoric Protohistory and Roman Archeology at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, conducts research on the nutrition of ancient people. Photo: AA

Working on the skeletons unearthed from 2 necropolises in the ancient city, also known as Pergamon, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Prehistoric Protohistoric and Roman Archeology Specialist Prof. Dr. Wolf Rüdiger Teegen’s international articles also give clues about the dietary habits and diseases of the ancients.

Professor Wolf Rüdiger Teegen told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he has been working on fossil and bone remains andIn this context, he said that he has been in Bergama for about 11 years.

Explaining that they conducted research on 300 skeletons and bone remains in the region, Teegen said that their work also covered the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Teegen stated that they primarily focused on “gender” and “age” in their reviews:  “In some skeletons, it is impossible to determine gender. Age determination is much more possible. We see a typical age distribution. This is also true for Roman and Hellenistic times.

Photo: AA

We found that people predominantly died between the ages of 20 and 40. The death rate at older ages is lower. Particularly the median age at death among women is lower due to factors such as pregnancy and childbirth,” he said.

He underlined that they rarely come across causes of death other than blunt trauma, as diseases with symptoms such as fever or diarrhea do not leave any traces on the skeleton.

The most frequent health problems include abscess and tooth loss, he said, adding: “These diseases also played an important role in childhood and youth.”

Prof. Dr. Wolf Rüdiger Teegen stated that they also benefited from the teeth in terms of the eating habits of the period,  “we see that a carbohydrate-rich diet was common, such as bread and porridge.”

“A certain group could eat meat regularly. The number of people who ate a lot of meat was low because meat-eating was dependent on social status,” he explained.

“From the researches, we know that beef is cheaper than pork. The pork was very popular during the Roman Empire. The most expensive meat was rabbit meat at that time,” he said.

Related Articles

Failed Mongol fleet may actually land in Japan after 800 years

18 July 2023

18 July 2023

A  recent shipwreck was found off the coast of Japan this year and identified as part of a Mongol fleet...

1600-Year-Old Rare Roman Glass Diatreta with Gladiator Scene Unearthed in Doclea, Montenegro

13 June 2025

13 June 2025

An extraordinary archaeological discovery has been made in the ancient Roman city of Doclea, located near Podgorica, Montenegro. During recent...

A 1,700-year-old trident discovered in Assos ancient city in Türkiye

10 October 2023

10 October 2023

An iron trident, believed to be used for fishing, dating to the 3rd or 4th century A.D. has been discovered...

Earliest Modern Human Genome Identified

7 April 2021

7 April 2021

The fossilized skull of a woman in the Czech Republic provided the oldest modern human genome to date, which has...

2,400-year-old Battlefield of Alexander the Great’s First Persian Victory found in Türkiye

27 December 2024

27 December 2024

After 20 years of research, archaeologists in Türkiye have pinpointed the exact location of the legendary Battle of Granicus, where...

500-year-old curse tablet found in Germany

15 December 2023

15 December 2023

In the city of Rostock on Germany’s northern coast, archaeologists found a lead curse tablet invoking Satan and two other...

The ancestors of many animal species alive today may have lived in a delta in what is now China, new research suggests

20 April 2022

20 April 2022

The ancestors of many animal species alive today may have lived in a delta in what is now China, new...

Anatolia’s Trade Secrets: The Unveiling of a Rare Neolithic Obsidian Mirror Manufacturing Hub

25 February 2025

25 February 2025

A recent study has applied a techno-functional approach to investigate the production and use of obsidian mirrors found at Tepecik...

Archaeologists have found a previously unknown Roman city with buildings of monumental proportions in Spain’s Aragon Region

17 July 2022

17 July 2022

Archaeologists from the University of Zaragoza in Spain have discovered a previously unknown Roman city with buildings of monumental proportions....

The world’s oldest wine discovered in liquid form was found in a Roman tomb in Spain

18 June 2024

18 June 2024

Archaeologists discovered an urn with a reddish liquid in a family mausoleum dating to the 1st century AD in the...

The earliest human remains 11,000-year-old discovered in northern Britain

25 January 2023

25 January 2023

An international team of archaeologists at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has discovered 11,000-year-old human remains in the Heaning...

Norse Runic Text found in Oslo could be Prayer!

30 December 2021

30 December 2021

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Studies (NIKU) have unearthed two objects inscribed in Norse runic text in...

Kent Archaeological Society purchased an Anglo-Saxon hoard ahead of a London auction

1 November 2022

1 November 2022

The Kent Archaeological Society has bought a large collection of Anglo-Saxon artifacts from the sixth and seventh centuries known as...

The Oldest-Known Center of Prophecy “Claros”

16 June 2021

16 June 2021

Claros is an ancient Ionian settlement located in the hamlet of Ahmetbeyli near Ozdere, approximately 50 kilometers south of Izmir....

Spectacular Marble Portrait and Untouched Grave Found at Bulgaria’s Heraclea Sintica

5 July 2025

5 July 2025

Ongoing rescue excavations at the ancient Roman site of Heraclea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria continue to deliver extraordinary finds, with...