University experts in York have studied the bones of 16 Herculean victims, taken by the ashes of Vesuvius, and thanks to their isotopes they have been able to know what they ate 2,000 years ago: they had a varied diet, olive oil was of great importance and consumed three times more seafood than the current Mediterranean inhabitants.

But the most remarkable conclusion of the research is the difference in diets between men and women. Men ate more cereals, fish and shellfish and women more fruit and vegetables. Men spent more time outside the home and, in general, had a higher social status than women, which can explain the discrimination of diets.