To dark haired Neptune. On nine seats they sat,
Five hundred on each seat; nine steers were slain
For each five hundred there."
There was also a great difference between the foods of the ordinary people and that of the heroes described in the classics. According to Homer, who was probably guilty of exaggeration, the athletes consumed enormous quantities of various meats (roasted or broiled, by the way—never boiled), which comprised their entire diet with the exception of wine and bread. Beef, mutton, venison, and especially pork, were mentioned.
"He spake and girt his tunic round his loins
And hastened to the sties in which the herds
Of swine were lying. Thence he took out two
And slaughtered them and scraped them, sliced the flesh
And fried it upon spits and when the whole
Was roasted, brought and placed it reeking hot,