Is the best routine to boost your health? Yes, according to an ancient Roman intellectual

In the first century AD, the Bay of Naples was fringed by villas belonging to ancient Rome’s political and military elite. The slopes of Mount Vesuvius rose above lush orchards and gardens, while trading ships came in and out of the harbour, bringing exotic imports.

This was one of the most fashionable regions of the Roman empire – a retreat for senators, generals and imperial officials with vast reserves of political power and private wealth.

Pliny the Elder lived here in the final years of his life. A senior Roman official, he had been a cavalry commander in his youth, later a provincial administrator, and eventually commander of the fleet stationed at Misenum (now Miseno, in the north-west of the Bay of Naples). Born around AD 23, he lived through the reigns of emperors such as Claudius, Nero and Vespasian, at a time when Rome governed vast territories stretching from Britain to north Africa and the near east.

Alongside his public duties, he was an impressive scholar. According to his nephew, Pliny the Younger, he read and dictated notes almost constantly, wrote while travelling, and had books read aloud to him as he ate.

His greatest work, Natural History, filled 37 volumes. It was an encyclopaedic attempt to catalogue all aspects of life and the natural world: astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, mineralogy, art and medicine.

“He literally said: ‘I want to cover everything in the world’,” explains Dr Jess Venner, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast. “It was ambitious, and he did pretty well.” The work survives today as one of the largest single texts to survive from antiquity, preserving fragments of earlier Greek and Roman science that might otherwise have been lost.

That ambition shaped his thinking about health, including his views on exercise. “He’s very specific about what he likes to do in a day,” says Venner.

By the first century AD, Roman notions of health rested on a sophisticated Greek-derived system, especially the Hippocratic tradition and Galen’s later work.

Roman medicine was based on the ancient concept that the body contained four humours – blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile – which needed to be kept in balance to ensure good health. It was a humoral imbalance, triggered by lifestyle or environment, that was believed to cause illness.

• Read more | Are you healthier than a Roman? These ancient secrets for longevity are still shockingly relevant

The model ancient Roman routine for health

In one of his letters, Pliny describes the daily habits of an elderly statesman named Spurinna – a respected senator of the early empire – as a model of balanced living.

“He’s saying: ‘This is the best way to be balanced as a Roman man – to achieve good health’,” Venner explains.

“He writes that Spurinna is said to rise one hour before dawn, before taking a three-mile walk – naked – around his hippodrome.”

In Roman elite culture, exercising unclothed drew on long-standing Greek athletic traditions. Public bath complexes across the empire included exercise yards where men trained before bathing.

After the first walk, Spurinna would take two additional walks later in the day. In the Roman world view, walking was considered ideal exercise.

• Read more | 6 ways people stayed healthy in ancient Rome

It was low-impact, rhythmic and adaptable to age. It stimulated digestion – a central concern in ancient medicine – without causing excessive strain. It allowed exposure to fresh air and sunlight, both believed to regulate internal qualities of heat and moisture. The repetition of walks across the day reflects the Roman belief in steady maintenance rather than single bursts of effort.

The setting is revealing of elite Roman attitudes, too.

Spurinna’s hippodrome was part of a private estate. “He’s going around his lovely verdant gardens, and they’re more like a park,” Venner says, adding: “They’re beautiful. And this is done in the morning sunshine.”

Morning sunlight was particularly important. After the cold of night, it warmed the body gently.

Roman elites and ball games

Pliny also explains that Spurinna enjoyed playing ball games outdoors. “He’ll be throwing around a ball, should it not be too windy,” Venner says.

Ball games were popular among the Roman elite, often played in villa courtyards or bath complexes. They provided moderate exercise, again without causing too much strain –consistent with the humoral theory that cautioned against extremes. Different types of balls were used, and sometimes more vigorous games were played, though elites were advised to favour gentler forms suitable for ageing bodies.

“These are all activities deemed by Pliny to be beneficial to Spurinna’s mind and body,” Venner says. “And we can reasonably believe that Pliny would engage in these activities himself.”

Caesar: Death of a Dictator

Member exclusive | On the Ides of March 44 BC, the most famous Roman in history was murdered. Julius Caesar's assassination transformed Rome forever, and the image of his bloody toga has haunted monarchs and tyrants ever since.

Listen to all episodes now

Health as moral discipline

Roman ideas of health were inseparable from notions of character and morality.

Elite Roman masculinity valued moderation, discipline and order. Rising before dawn demonstrated self-control; regulating exercise signalled mastery over indulgence; exposure to one’s own land reinforced status and identity. The Roman ideal of virtus –manly excellence – was a combination of physical effort with moral restraint.

• Read more | “Christianity didn’t invent itself as an empire from nothing: it adapted existing Roman structures”

At the same time, it’s important to situate this advice within the broader social hierarchy of ancient Rome. Structured exercise was largely an elite concern. This was guidance for wealthy men with leisure time and landscaped estates, while labourers, enslaved people and soldiers experienced intense physical exertion as necessity.

Still, the underlying principles extolled by Pliny have value, emphasising that good health can be maintained though moderate walking, gentle games and exposure to air and light. In that sense, Pliny’s prescription was based on the idea of equilibrium. The best exercise, in his world, was the one that sustained balance, day after day.

Pliny himself died in AD 79 – but not because of ill health.

When Vesuvius erupted, he sailed across the Bay of Naples from his base at Misenum to observe the phenomenon and to help with evacuation efforts. He died during the catastrophe – killed by one of the natural phenomena about which he had been so insatiably curious throughout his life.

Jess Venner was speaking to Kev Lochun on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation.