The Ancients - Gladiators in Britain

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

When you think of Gladiators you tend to think of Roman Amphitheatres, Hollywood films, and probably not Colchester in the UK. But thanks to the discovery of the Colchester Vase, evidence suggests that Gladiators might have fought in an arena in Roman Colchester. From animal hunts, to violent fights to the death - this artefact paints a vivid picture of what Roman life might have been like. But how accurate is this vase, and what does it's detailed imagery really tell us about Gladiators in Roman Britain?In this episode, Tristan welcomes Colchester Museum Curator Glynn Davis to the Podcast, to talk about what life might have been like for a Gladiator in Roman Britain. Using artefacts displayed in the museum, Glynn takes us on a journey through the different types of combat, animals fought, and helps debunk some popular Gladiatorial myths.You can watch Tristan and Glynn's chat here.Learn more about Decoding the Roman Dead here.The Ancients has been nominated in the History category at the Signal Awards! Help us win Gold by casting your vote here!Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code ANCIENTS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here.You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the Ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's episode, well, you've probably been thinking quite a lot about the Roman Empire recently, perhaps more than usual. Well, let's keep that

going because today we're talking all about gladiators in Roman Britain. There is a brand new exhibition that has opened at Colchester Castle Museum, which explores our current evidence for gladiators in this part of the Roman Empire. And a few weeks back, I headed up to the museum to interview its lead curator of this exhibition, Glyn Davies. Now in this episode, we focus in particular on one striking artefact, a massive beaker known as the Colchester Vase, and it's full of striking details, one of the finest pieces of pottery from Roman Britain. One of the scenes, the main scene, depicts two gladiators fighting. We even have their names surviving. So could these gladiators be actual fighters who battled

in the arena at Roman Colchester? Well, you're going to find out in today's episode. Now, of course, we explore various details of this vase. And if you'd like a visual aid to see this vase as we're chatting, well, you're in luck because we filmed this interview and it's already been released on the History Hit YouTube channel, so you can see the vase there as we discuss it. I really do hope you enjoy, and here's Glyn. Glyn, welcome back. It's great to have you on History Hit. It's great to be back

here at Colchester Castle. Welcome to the games. Well, I mean, absolutely. We're at the entrance of your new exhibition, all about gladiators in Britain. Now, when someone mentions gladiators, we may well think straight away of Italy in the heart of the Roman Empire, or maybe even North Africa because of films like, well, Russell Crowe and Gladiator. But even on this far-flung frontier of the Roman Empire, there is evidence of gladiator fights happening. Absolutely, yeah. Here we are, fringe of empire, that gets used a lot. But yeah, absolutely. Gladiators and the spectacular, where we get the modern name spectacle from, were deeply ingrained in Roman culture. So it's not surprising, really, where the Romans are, you'll find, I suppose, elements of spectacular and the idea of gladiators fighting in arenas. And what types of evidence do we have from the archaeological record for this evidence of gladiators in Roman Britain?

In some ways, there's a lot of avenues of evidence, but it's all very sparse. So we could look to the venues themselves, to do have amphitheatres in Britain, although not all gladiator battles had to take place in those venues. We can look to the written record, of which there is nothing. We can look to the epigraphic record, so the inscriptions. Again, very few things out there. So then we have to look to the people themselves. Do they leave behind elements of them as performers, so their arms and armour, as well as the people themselves? Do we find gladiators buried in Britain?

And here we have a few, and in some cases new, pieces of evidence turning up. If you put it all together, you can take a lot as well of the artefacts from Britain, mosaics, wall paintings, etc. Gladiators are everywhere in art, but you need the context to be able to tell you were they here, were they battling in this arena, were they real people and there we have a bit of a problem but we have enough I think to say yeah absolutely there were gladiators in Roman Britain. So it seems like there's this mix of direct evidence which the object can almost reveal that yes there were 100% gladiators in Britain and then then all of this indirect evidence, like the mosaics, that hints at that there was this idea of gladiators,

that they were commonly being portrayed, for instance, as you say, on art. Absolutely, yeah. I think a good example is we have a fragment of a wall painting from Colchester that is a stock image almost of the gladiator in defeat. And so one gladiator fighting anotherwyddi, ac felly un gladiator yn ffriddio'r un arall, mae'n cyhoeddi'r llyfn yn ymgyrchu, ac rwy'n credu bod hyn yn unig ffragment o glaswm llaw o Brifysgol sy'n ddysgu szena o'r ffyrdd. Mae'r rhan o'r ddewis yn dod o, yn debyg, o ffwrdd o ffwrdd fach yn Colchester, ond mae hynny ddim yn ddewis yn gyffredinol. Nid yw'r gladiators wedi bod yma, mae'n golygu

fod yr arweinydd o'r ffwrdd honno, dwi'n credu, eisiau dweud eu bod wedi'u nodi i'r diwylliant Rhom. gladiators were here. It just simply means the owner of that house, I suppose, wanted to say they were keyed into Roman culture. And what's interesting about that fresco, that painting, is it's a stock image. You'll see, I think recently at Pompeii, they revealed a very similar wall fresco there. So these things, yeah, they are certainly indirect pieces of evidence sometimes. And you mentioned, of course, that we are in Colchester and Colchester back in Roman times was this almost a hub a centre of Roman culture? Yeah absolutely we say it here Colchester it kicks off as one of the most important cities if you like in Roman Britain and there's a reason for that and actually this plays into the idea of why gladiators may have been here and that's because it would have been the home to the imperial cult.

So if you like, this is the worship of the emperor themselves, a symbol of Rome, and indeed on their deaths, they are deified. So it's worshipping the spirit, if you like, of the emperor in that sense as well. So it's incredibly important. It's an incredibly important religious centre, and the imperial cult were across all the provinces, syncing up back with Rome. What's interesting in terms of looking to gladiators and evidence is that the imperial cult,

one of their duties was to put on munera, so that's what we call gladiator fights. That's an interesting word as well because it means obligation or gift and I suppose that's what they are. They're being put on in honour of the emperor, if you like, for the emperor, as well as in his name for the people. And it's to celebrate him. And they had a duty. They were bound by that. So they were one of the main sponsors of the games and they would have happened here. So we can imagine these munera, these blood sports, including the gladiatorial spectacles, happening in a place Roman Colchester some well I guess almost 2,000 years ago now and it seems that you found some incredible artifacts from this area of Britain too to kind of back that up perhaps most famously most extraordinarily of all this pot the original pot that we have in front of us today G, what is this? This lovely pot is known as the Colchester Vase and it was excavated to the west of the

city, where one of the cemetery areas was of Colchester, and it's been on display in the museum. I think it had a trip to London once at the request of Mortimer Wheeler, a famous archaeologist, but it's pretty much been on display here. And I sometimes call it the gladiator pot because what we have on here is a depiction of arena scenes and we can talk through them. Well let's talk through and let's focus in because the detail, the first thing when you have a look at this pot is the staggering amount of detail. All of the outside of this pot is covered in various either animals or human figures. Absolutely, so we've got three scenes going on and you can read it like

that. It's a really dynamic piece of art if you want to look at it in that way. And I talk about these scenes because you can see these dotted lines going around and these divisions. If we look here at the front, we've got two, we could call them bestiarii, so the beast hunters, or another name is venators. So again, these types of beast hunters. And we have Mario here and Secundus, and they're baiting a bear. We know that because we also have this rather enigmatic inscription running all the way around the rim, which names the individuals. And that's not completely unique to Roman art. We get a lot of mosaics sometimes of the names of the combatants

and even the names of animals sometimes. Sadly, we don't know the names of the combatants and even the names of animals sometimes sadly we don't know the name of the bear here so we have marion secundus and they're tormenting this poor bear very briefly then we move on to the main event and we have memnon the secutor so he's very distinctive this huge helmet encasing helmet on his head his his large shield, his sword, which he carries in his left hand. So this makes him a left-handed gladiator, giving him a bit of an advantage. And he is fighting, or he has just bested, Valentinus, who is a retiarius. And many people will know the retiarius is the fisherman, if you like.

He's got his trident and his net. And he's actually dropped his trident. You can just see it at the base of the pot here. And he raises his digit, his finger up. He's submitting, basically. So we have captured a moment in time here. And I suppose what we don't know is whether Memnon spares his life. In some ways, that was always going to be down to the sponsor of the games,

also the editor. The editor is the sponsor of the games. And also the person who owns these gladiators, so the lanista. gynllunydd y gêm hefyd y gweithred y gweithred y gêm a hefyd y person sy'n gweithio â'r gladdwyr yna'r lanister ac mae'n amlwg bod rhai diwethaf yn ei wneud yno oherwydd os yw'n mynd i fyny'r bywyd o Valentinus mae rhywun wedi cael rhai ariannu a dyna'r hyfforddwr dyna'r lanister ac yna olaf i ddiwedd ychydig efallai yw hyn yn ffiller mewn gwirionedd mae'r sîn traddodiadol off maybe this is a bit of filler actually this is a really traditional scene on beakers like this known as hunk cups we've got a lovely scene we've got hares or rabbits here being chased by dogs and there's a stag as well and I do wonder that's a really generic scene and I wonder if this is a

commissioned piece which is what we think it is now which we can talk about this might just complete the pot if you like well before we go on to that, I'd like to examine, let's examine in detail each of these various scenes, these three scenes that you highlighted. If we start with this depiction of the beast hunt, of this bear and these two figures, this is sometimes quite a horrific part of the infamous Moon Era that is overlooked compared to the gladiator spectacles themselves,

that before the gladiators fought, in the morning of one of these events, these people, they were the stars of the show. Yeah, absolutely. So you're right. I think we don't really know what an average day at the Games was like. We often look to the Coliseum and what's recorded about that. I think sometimes Marshall, the Roman poet, is quoted, who wrote a book called The Spectacles. But that is recording the opening, if you like, of the Colosseum. So it's extravagant. And what in the provinces of Britain are never going to really be

compared to the Colosseum. But we think there's a sort of a standard day, and you mentioned it. To kick off in the morning, you'd have the beast hunts, the Venatio. And in some ways, I think you're right, it's almost more horrific than the numbers of gladiators coming through, because animals could be slaughtered in their hundreds and indeed utterly thousands in Rome. At the Colosseum, at the inauguration, I think in total, I think 9,000 beasts were slain. It's hard to think of that amount of bloodshed really, isn't it? It's horrific. It really is. I mean, if we focus therefore on what these Venationes, these beast hunters are wielding, I mean, what are these particular, I guess, weapons or tools that they're holding? Yeah, it's quite interesting actually. And I've worked with a number of specialists on the vase,

one including Nina Crummy, who's a well-known sort of Roman artifact specialist. And she's reanalyzed this with a really keen specialist and she's re-analysed this with a really keen eye and she's picked out some really interesting details. The fact is, firstly, the two bestiarii, if you want to call them that, the beast fighters, they're not dressed in the same way. You can see this chap over here, Mario, he's not got a lot on, he's got his little loincloth and he's holding two sticks as well well so maybe he's not so much aiming to kill the bear but I don't know anger it etc and then we have yep Secundus as well and he's a little better armored and he's got this manika so this piece of covering going up his arm which may have been made

of leather and he's got a whip as well and he's got some sort of shin guards as well so they're not dressed in the same way they're not armoured in the same way and Nina suggests something really interesting that you might think of this as a duo here at play but maybe it's a trio maybe these two characters these two people work with the bear a lot we should be seeing the bear as a third part of this act because it's hard to work out whether this is a traditional Venatio where the bear is being hunted to be killed or whether it's got a yn rhaid gweithio â'r ffynartio traddodiol, lle mae'r beir yn cael ei hynod o'i hwntio i'w ddiadu, neu a oes ganddo fflavwyr o, dwi ddim yn gwybod, rhyw fath o gynhyrchiad yma a theatrwch. Dwi'n meddwl nad ydym yn gwybod. Ni ddim yn gwybod enw'r beir, ond yn ddiddorol, yn Colchester, mae gennym rhai o'r llwyth o ddiwedd ar gyfer beir o'r ddinas. Felly mae amrywiaethau o amgylcheddau

o'r gwlad o'r ddinas hanes, lle mae gwerthoedd beir wedi cael eu datblygu. Mae'n realiti from across the ancient city, where bear bones have been discovered. It is a reality that bears could have been in an arena or a venue here, and indeed across Britain. Bears are probably the most terrifying beasts that would have been in the arenas of Britain. Well, were bears in Britain at that time, or would they have been transported across from the continent to somewhere like here? Interestingly, we know, actually, I spoke of Marshall. He records Caledonian bears

performing, if you want to use that word, being slaughtered, might be more accurate, in the Colosseum and its opening. So we know bears from Scotland are being transported over. But actually, we can talk about this in a little bit when we mention the inscription on the vase. If we look to Germany, I think around Zanten and the Rhineland area I think the military presence there they're really operating at acquiring both people and animals for the arenas across sort of the western empire so it may be actually that bears were coming straight from Germany which it may be the case of Valentinus as well. All right well before we get to Valentinus one last question on this incredible detail we have

on these particular figures. First off like to see the hair of these two people with the bear and of course all that bands that you can see across his body and on his arms, his eyes, his nose. There's a real attention to detail there isn't it? But I've also got to ask about the bear itself. I must admit it doesn't really look like a bear. How can you tell that it is a bear? It looks a bit doggy, doesn't it? We have got some other hounds on the vase. There are several different depictions of bear actually and we do think that's what's on show here. He's a bit bigger. If you compare

him to the canine here, he's quite a different beast. He's a lot larger, lengthy. The person making this may not have actually seen a bear themselves, so they're going off a description. I suppose we have to bear that in mind. Having said that, to counter-argue that, there is, as you have said, a huge amount of detail that has gone into the barbatine decoration of this vessel. So barbatine is all the pipe work you see here that's created this relief there's a huge amount of detail and a real familiarity with what these people are wearing how they're dressed and we do wonder if this and we'll come on to this if this is actually depicting a real event you

wonder if the potters themselves had seen the games or maybe were even in the audience potentially the spectacle that this commemorates to get a sense of the size for our podcast listeners who are listening to this it's about well i mean it's a it's about 220 centimeters high and yeah it's about that so it gives you a rough size it's interesting you mentioned the size actually because technically this is what we would call a beaker and when you think of a beaker I normally think of something quite small something you drink from and I often call this a super-sized beaker and what's interesting is this can't really perform the same function as a small drinking cup filled with a liquid say wine watered down wine this is incredibly heavy if you're using that in a sort of convivial context, a bit

of Roman dining, everyone with friends around showing this off. It's a huge thing to lift up and pass around. Plus there's almost absolutely no damage to this pot. There's a bit of damage that may have happened post excavation, but otherwise this is almost pristine. So I can't see it being handed round. What is this? We call it a beaker, but it's huge. It's probably not handed round. I think most likely the Colchester vase is a commissioned piece. It's a memento of the games and it has a second life as a cremation vessel. We did find human remains in here that have been anionised. Okay, go on. You can't leave us on a cliffhanger like that. Come on, tell us about these human remains. What did the analysis of them reveal?

As part of the Decoding the Dead project, which you were here chatting about before some time ago, this is one of the cremations we analysed. An osteologist, Emily Carroll, analysed the cremation and we discovered that the person in here was a male and they're probably over 40 years at their time of death. male and they're probably over 40 years at their time of death they had a bit of I think they had a bit of pathology going on so they'd had a hardish life apart from that we can't say a lot more other than we also had their petrous bone analysed so we have two petrous bones they're in the ear and we undertook isotope analysis on that and that was Professor Montgomery and her team at Durham University and that worked out that this chap was not local to Colchester so they may have ac roedd hynny'n ymwneud â'r Prifysgol Montgomery a'i tîm yng Nghymru. Ac fe wnes i ddod o hyd i fod y chadwch hwnnw ddim yn lleol i Colchester. Felly, gallai eu bod wedi dod o rhai rhanau'n awyrgylchol o Brifysgol i'r wythnos, neu'n dda i'r nôr, i fyny i'r Sgolion,

neu, mewn gwirionedd, gallai eu bod wedi dod o rai rhan arall o'r Empiriaeth. Yn anffodus, roedd crematoedd yn y diwrnod cyntaf o wneud asetegiad isotopi. Felly, beth mae'n rhaid i ni ei wneud yw gyd-dynnu rhywbeth arall fel y led. in the early days of undertaking isotope analysis. And so what we really need to do is analyse something else like the lead. And hopefully that's in the pipeline and that will be able to help us pin down potentially where this person was born. But they certainly, we can say for sure,

that they weren't born anywhere near Colchester or what was Essex back in the Roman period. I'm guessing we're getting into the world of conjecture to kind of theorise then if that figure, who was ultimately buried in here, could have been a fighter in one of these arenas. Yeah, so the cremation was well preserved. And I think unlike nowadays where we go for a cremulator and it crushes us to dust, essentially back then you'd have token parts of the cremation taken from the pyre and placed in the vessel.

And I think we had over 50% of the body represented and you have whole chunks that's how we're able to determine biological sex how we're able to determine age etc from diagnostic bones but a little bit of pathology but nothing to indicate did this person live the life of a gladiator in the arena we didn't see any evidence of that it was too hard to ascertain could they've been a gladiator it's what we pose in the exhibition here to people I suppose they could have been I don't think so though I think whoever this person was they had a really intimate connection with this vase which was a commissioned piece at some great expense and it depicts a very specific event so they must

have had some intimate connection. So maybe they could have been just some sort of uber fan, a fan of the games, or we could maybe extrapolate a little bit further, maybe even suggest maybe they were the editor of the games, so the sponsor of the games. Maybe that's a worthy thing to record on here. Not that gladiators couldn't get rich, but it's only a very few across time and space in the Roman period who earn a great deal of money.

Most people, most gladiators, they are slaves and die as slaves, unfortunately. So, yeah, I don't think so. That's my take on it, though. So there really is that interesting contrast with gladiators in Roman society, whether it's in Britain or elsewhere in the empire. Yeah, they have a really contested identity. They can achieve this celebrity status, if you like, but I think that's so few and far between for people. For most gladiators, especially let's talk about Britain and the provinces here, it's going to be a really hard life. In some ways, gladiators, they're slaves, they're a commodity to their owner, like any slave

would be. So they have to be cared for in a way if that owner that Lannister wants their money back I suppose they want to make a business but at the same time many non-gladiators almost or criminals the Noxoi were just just went into the meat grinder I suppose say the Coliseum etc so there was that that that waste of life and taking of life and I think that was most gladiators probably had a very hard life if they managed to survive the arena absolutely well let's move on therefore onto the gladiators that we have on this vase itself I'm being very careful moving it as you say it's about 220 millimeters in height so it's quite quite small but decorated full of detail this is scene two

as you were saying and this is of that next part of the arena sport, which was the gladiatorial fights themselves. Absolutely. So we're on to the munus now, the gladiator fight, and the main event which could have happened in the afternoon if you're looking at a traditional setup of the day. And yeah, here we have Memnon, the secutor, and it's inscribed above. Let's look at Memnon then. So what has Memnon got? He's a secutor and they're really distinctive because they have this encasing helmet, if you like, with just the two eye holes. He has his very large shield, he's got padding on one arm. It might be padding, it could be leather, it could be metal I suppose as well.

There's different variations on the armour and some coverings on his legs too. So he's quite a well defended gladiator. However, he is also completely weighed down. And I don't know if you can imagine being in a metal helmet like that encases your head. If you think you've got to move around that sandy floor of the arena for maybe 15, that's how long we think maybe a bout would have lasted,

fighting, technically fighting for your life. You can imagine how hard it would be to breathe in that, how hot it's going to be. So even though he's well protected, he's weighed down and I think that's going to be effort. That's hard work. If we focus first on the helmet itself, now that helmet gives me nightmares because I can see the eye holes and also I believe I've worn a replica of that style of helmet up in York about a year or so ago and it was the most uncomfortable helmet I've ever worn because it presses right up against your face. It's really difficult to walk around, to breathe, even to talk in that helmet so I guess

that was one of the things wasn't it? He's heavily armed, but actually the gear that he's got is not the most effective for fighting. Absolutely. And you make a really interesting point there because that helmet wasn't made for you. There's no reason to say these helmets, these weapons, the armaments were made for them. So maybe it's a helmet that slightly doesn't fit either. That's going to be horrific. Did you wear a padding when you put that metal helmet on? Yeah, I mean, that would help soften it, wouldn't it? And actually, there's some amazing details on the vase. And here you can see some sort of tassels coming out.

So it may be that he had some sort of lining in there. I've tried one of these things on too, and they do cut into you. And if you're getting knocked about with a sword as well, yeah. And I've got to also ask about this one particular piece of decoration on his shield. That's a swastika. Absolutely. It is a swastika, which nowadays we very much associate as a symbol of hate. But it is in fact a really ancient symbol, extending way back beyond the Roman period and in Italy to other places. But to Romans, this was an apotropaic symbol so if you like it warded off

evil and it was protective and therefore no reason to be alarmed that it's on the shield of a gladiator and in fact many items of gladiatorial equipment could be decorated in this style with protective symbols which had all sorts of different meaning it's not out of place here although it does I think look quite odd to our modern eyes. It does absolutely. Well Memnon he is looking towards the other gladiator in this scene. He's got his shield out front, he's got his small sword about almost looks like he's about to deal a blow doesn't it? Yep. Who is the object of his attack? Who is this other figure that we've got? Valentinus I I believe. Yeah, so this is Valentinus, our Retiarius. He's been bested and this is, as you say, the Memnon sword is raised and we wonder what will happen. So the artist of the potter has captured this moment, maybe at the bequest of the person who's commissioned

it. We'll never know what happened to Valentinus, the Retiarius. He's dropped his trident to the floor. He has this really interesting armor up his arm we have the manica again up to the gallerus which is it's almost like a shield for the shoulder it's strapped on here which he can hide behind and i should say the sector and the retiarius are really common pairing and they're one of the favorite pairings especially in the later roman period as we've discussed the way memnon is dressed, the Retiarius Valentinus is quite different. He can be quite speedy. He's not weighed down. He's only got a bit of armour on his shoulder. So he's got speed on his side. But he has got quite a weird weapon. He's got this trident

and he's also got a net. We may even see a remnant here. That's what he might be holding. Very difficult to depict, but there might be a remnant of the net that he tries to ensnare his opponent in. So I think this is what the Romans liked about it, that what were these weird combinations, these pairings of fighters going to produce? You mentioned how restrictive some of this helmet is, etc., when you put on a replica. And this stuff wasn't designed to assist them and help them. Gladiators' armour, in a way, was designed to be theatrical. And again, the slip of this pot is a browny-purplish colour. It's quite dark.

But gladiators themselves would have sparkled in the sun in an arena. Their helmets, golden or silver. The shields, colourful, with all these strange protective symbols on them. I think ostrich feathers coming outside of the helmet, plumes of feathers. There's so much colour and glitz. I think there you go, there you see the spectacular, there you're seeing the performance and none of that really aided the gladiator. It wasn't there to help them win the fight. And I guess another part of that performance was the names of the gladiators themselves, because they had stage names. These names that we have in front of us, they could be stage names.

I suppose they could be. Yeah, we certainly see that in other forms, other media, especially mosaics. Gladiators are named, they have stage names. Memnon here is a really interesting name. Memnon for the Romans was the mythical name of the king of the Ethiopians at that time, a mythical figure. And it may be that, you know, Memnon derives a stage name from that, this sort of hero, if you like. Valentinus, that may be more a personal name. So yeah, they had these stage names. I don't know if they were picked by themselves, or they naturally came about through their training and their fights. But it's interesting to know whether they actually own that name that identity associated with their name as well we have their

names but we also have some other writing next to their names what is this writing so we have the word sort of sec here for memnon secutor or sac i suppose is technically how it's spelt and then we have v i so nine we'd normally write that as i x but it's not uncommon for the romans to spell that out in full so to speak so this is suggesting that memnon has won nine fights that's the interpretation as i say i work with a lot of specialists on this pot got a team of specialists together and dr john pierce at king's college london who amongst many things is an epigraphist and he's reassessed the inscription here, and essentially the traditional interpretation. But this is suggesting that Memnon has won nine fights, which sort of places him as a veteranus,

so a veteran of the arena, somebody who's got a few fights under their belt and kind of knows what they're doing. Now, unfortunately, Valentinus has no fights to his name. There's no record of that. So he might be a tyro, so an untested gladiator. And maybe that's why we see what we see here exactly, that he's been bested by Memnon. Now, interestingly, next to Valentinus, the inscription finishes with Valentinu, so Valentinus legionis XX.

So that's referring to the 30th Legion. with Valentinu, so Valentinus Legionis XX. So that's referring to the 30th Legion. And that's where it's a bit enigmatic because you may know the 30th Legion was never stationed here in Britain. They were stationed in the Rhineland, actually at Xanten in Germany. And this has always puzzled people about the vase. It's why the vase was actually thought to even potentially

be a German product, because this style of vase also is being made out there as well. A famous academic, Jocelyn Toynbee, suggested that maybe Valentinus was attached to the 30th Legion, and we start to get, she's put about this idea that maybe the military had their own sort of gladiator troops in a way, which is an interesting idea. We think rather that these gladiators and this association with the legions just suggests that the military have a really important role in how they're acquiring people and especially animals for the arena. So we spoke of the bear earlier,

and we have inscriptions recording the military hunting and taking bears. I think one soldier's down as capturing 50 bears and again I think that what we see here is Valentinus is a nodal part of this huge network especially over in the Rhineland of how the military operating to supply these venues and if you think about it gladiators is really big business in the Roman world and you need a system like that and you need procurators too. So we know of a procurator who was in charge of again supplying people to the arenas of Britain and Germany. So it's as I say it's big business and I think this is just an

association if you like. Right because it is interesting to kind of delve into that link. And you say it is an enigma, but to have the name, a Roman name, above this gladiator, this gladiator who's got his finger up, almost looks like he's giving a rude gesture, but he is surrendering, isn't he? And then the name of a particular legion, when we always associate or normally associate gladiators with slaves

and names that aren't Roman, to have that there, that is really peculiar and interesting to think whether he was someone who went into debts and then tried to get out by becoming a gladiator and then having that link with the legion. All of these theories, there are so many theories must abound as you've highlighted there as to who this figure was and his association with that particular military unit. Absolutely and as I said it's enigmatic, it's unusual, we haven't cracked it in this new assessment of the vase given our best interpretation of it and that's what's

interesting about it. It's why I find it fascinating to really examine singular objects like this to try and pull out these stories. You mentioned the name, we can see the figure on the vase. I suppose the really new piece of research that came out of the reassessment by the team include John Pierce, Nina Crummey and Joanna Bird, who's a ceramic specialist. So if you look really carefully, something suddenly jumped out at us, which is the fact that this inscription is down as being recorded post-firing. So you fired your pot, it is a ceramic, and then it's, if you like, scratched in or chipped in. And if you do that to ceramics that have a slip, so that's what this lovely colouring is,

it's a sort of a technical thing, it's what this final sort of application is, the slip will just chip, it will just ping away. And we've got lots of examples in the collection at Colchester that show that. But this is really finely done. And if you you look carefully the clincher are the x's legionis xxx can you see how one stroke overlays the other which means that this can only be done in the wet clay if you took a stick and ran it through wet clay yourself it's the only way you can achieve this that has to have been done when this initial thing

was being created. Absolutely. So that completely changes the take on the vase. So instead of this just being a really nice pot with some gladiators on, someone comes across and goes I like that and oh it reminds me of that time in the arena I saw Valentinus and Memnon and I remember what happened, I'd scratch their names on. It doesn't mean that anymore. It means that someone has commissioned this pot from the potteries at Colchester. We know this is a Colchester product because we've analysed the clay. The DNA of clay, if you like, means that it was made here in Colchester. It's a match for the London clay that's being used. So it's made here and it's been commissioned of a specific event. So now when we look at these figures on the vase, this is Valentinus, this is Memnon. Of course we have all this, all these

artefacts from Roman Britain, we have lovely mosaics and things. Yes we have all these amphitheatres and we presume gladiator fights etc took place there. But we have no record of any real people or any real event. Well, we do now, and that's the Colchester Vars. So we argue that this is recording real people and a real spectacle, potentially, that happened here at Colchester. We mentioned indirect and direct evidence much earlier on in our chat, and it is so fascinating to think how that particular focus on that last bit of the inscription looking at that minute detail to realize that it had been made when the original pot was being fired when the original creation was being created on this

pot how that has changed it from indirect to direct evidence for gladiators in this area of the roman empire this is huge when exploring this quite enigmatic story of gladiators in this area of the Roman Empire. This is huge when exploring this quite enigmatic story of gladiators on this far-flung corner of the empire. It's fascinating, isn't it? And then, and again, because we have so little evidence, it's just fantastic to have something like this. And this type of thing, this type of form of inscription isn't unusual elsewhere. So we have other examples of where this has been done but it is unique to Britain so it says something new about Britain and what's going on here so now we know that Valentinus of the 30th legion has probably traveled from Germany it puts a different spin

on our lovely bear who has no name he's nameless but maybe it suggests if this is a real event the bear must have been there too and as I, we have other unique bits of evidence, a bit of zoological remains that suggest bears were here. So you start piecing it together. And I think it's very easy to see this really happening here. Now, obviously this vase is associated with burial and cremation now, the gladiator vase. It does beg the question, do we therefore have any other evidence for a tomb of

gladiators or a gladiator burial in this area of Britain I think that's yeah that's a really interesting question isn't it and it's funny that this has a second life as a cremation vessel because it didn't start off like that it was made as a memento of the games and then it's reused so we assume there's some intimate connection. But yeah, getting at that idea of where are the gladiators themselves, these people, I suppose there's, you may have heard of it, I'm sure, the really interesting cemetery near York, so Driftfield Terrace. It's in the cemetery area just outside York.

They believe they found potentially a gladiator graveyard. I think that's a pretty good interpretation of the osteological remains they found there, the human remains, where you look at some of the facts, the demography, there's a lot of men there, okay, not a lot of women or children at all. Those men are not elderly in some cases. When they looked at their bones, they could see they had a hard life, I think, but also there was some muscle to them, they're robust. When you start piecing this together, there's another aspect which is quite confusing in some ways which there's a lot of decapitation burials where the head if you like or what we are left with is the skull obviously but the head has been removed

and either placed back with the body or elsewhere so you know there are some other theories are these criminals etc but i think overall that's a pretty good interpretation of potentially what ddynion, ac ati. Ond rwy'n credu, o gwbl, bod hynny'n dderbyniad da o'r sefydliad yw un rhan o ddewis, sy'n ddiddorol iawn ac rwy'n gwybod eu bod nhw'n gweithio arno, yw gân ysgolion o un o'r sgeleton sydd yn debyg o ddynion o garnefwr mawr, a dwi'n credu y gallai fod yn gân. Dwi'n gobeithio y gallai fod yn gân. Rwy'n bwysig ar gân nawr, gan edrych ar y cyfnod o'r cyfnod, neu'n gallu bod yn gân mawr. Rwy'n credu obsessed with bears now having looked at the Colchester Vial so long or potentially a big cat and I think they're still working on this doing some really interesting analysis of the bone and hopefully not too long we'll find out what animal that was but that's interesting too because again it's another piece in the puzzle of going were there venatioids going on here did we have

some of the impressive animals that the Colosseum did I always assumed that we didn't that bears would be maybe the most ferocious thing you'd find in an arena. But potentially if it's a big cat, that really, again, much like the Colchester Vase and its reassessment, that would really put a different spin on what we think was going on in the arenas of Britain. It really bodes exciting for what's going to happen in the years ahead, doesn't it? I mean, you also mentioned there how, of course, first of all, this was probably a memento, almost a souvenir of games of spectacles happening in Roman Britain.

Is this something we also need to associate with these Munera, with these spectacles, that the people watching on, they've got their favourite gladiators, that at the end of the day, they might purchase a particular type of souvenir to remember the event? Absolutely. I think there's almost two levels to it. There are certainly the mementos if you like and we have other examples of objects like the Colchester Vase where they're inscribed with very specific events or specific performers or animals etc. There's a few of those dotted throughout the empire and those I think are your classic absolutely souvenir and a mement momentum something that is to recall something it's supposed to make someone look at say let's take the vase in a setting where it's being shown off is to respond and make people think of that event elicit some memory it's a mnemonic device in some ways so I think there are some really special objects like that

out there and then we have the other level of what I like to think of as tat a souvenir tat and that stuff is just mass produced and everywhere so these are the lamps that have gladiators on them or little battles and things these are the amazing glass cups we have one of these from Colchester the little glass sports cup we call them has gladiators all the way around and these aren't really depicting specific events but they're just evoking the arena and the combatants and I think that it's that sort of stuff sells really well doesn't it and because I think people back then they loved this as I say it was a really big part of Roman culture some objects it's also really interesting what gets decorated with even gladiators so we have knife handles for instance and those are really practical little decorated with even gladiators so we have knife handles for

instance and those are really practical little objects but the gladiator was also a symbol and I suppose you could invest some protective qualities also almost some magic into some of these practical objects if you had a gladiator decorating it one of my favorite objects relating to gladiators is a tiny amber pendant that was excavated from the site of the Mifrayim, the London Mifrayim, which is now on display there at the London Mifrayim Bloomberg Space. It's absolutely tiny, about this big. What's that? Maybe 10 millimetres high. And it's an amber amulet of a gladiator's helmet, a mamillo. And it's beautiful. but at the same time, that was undoubtedly some sort of magical amulet.

Amber had magical meaning to the Romans. They saw it as a protective material. And to shape that into a gladiator's helmet almost doubles down on that. It makes it more magical. And you can imagine someone, maybe even a child, wearing that device. So we talked about gladiators being symbols of celebrities.

They're also slaves. At the same time, I think we see their symbolism being used as protective devices. Yeah, they're really interesting, complicated figures. Is this a regular pose that we see gladiators depicted in in Roman Britain? In some ways, yes. This action pose, raise sword, etc. There's the famous Bignam mosaic with its little cubic gladiators. It is, and I suppose there's a reason for that,

isn't it? It's to convey these people, these gladiators in fight, etc. We can see it here, the raised finger of Valentinus. This is also a really specific gesture, which is on a lot of Roman art in context of gladiators the raised index finger meaning submission what's interesting is Memnon's there almost poised he's in action pose but he was also frozen in time on this piece of ceramic so he's ready to go but it's not his decision whether he makes that sort of final kill that's going to be down to the sponsor of the games the editor and of course they have backed it they've put all the money up and they will have to have spoken to the trainer probably

in advance the lanista who owns the gladiator because of course these gladiators are slaves and therefore they are his property so they need a prior agreement if you like otherwise there could be a lot of money swapping hands and indeed if the lanista has said that's fine yeah if you like otherwise there could be a lot of money swapping hands and indeed if the lanista has said that's fine yeah if you want him to go i suppose the sponsor could make that decision but then he's reacting to the crowd as well it's a really unique thing and then we obviously there's obviously other gestures involved we have the the turned thumb is the classic one as well thumbs up thumbs down so it's interesting how gestures come into play into Roman life. Well, come on, myth bust that. That is something we always associate with gladiators because of

famous movies and others that thumbs up means live, thumbs down means die. Is that right? I don't think anyone's been able to solve it, but one of the best articles I've read on it by an academic suggests the opposite actually that thumbs up rather than the thumbs up good thumbs up is bad so I suppose deaf to the gladiator and then thumbs down good and then even then thumb sideways might be a thing too so I don't think it's definitively been proven but they do bring in a huge number of sources all these different literary texts and playing off other ideas where gestures and hand gestures are used in the ancient world it's really interesting it is really interesting but once again highlights that

point isn't it that the story of gladiators in the roman empire although we so often associate them with the roman empire as being this ever-present part of it it's still a really enigmatic part of the story because of the evidence that we have surviving. And yet, thanks to research by yourself and others on objects like this, we're learning more, for instance, of the presence of gladiators in Britain. And I've got to say, looking at the quality of the artwork all around this vase, surely it's got to be one of the most impressive, extraordinary vases that we have surviving from Roman Britain. I absolutely agree.

I'm really lucky, I'm really privileged as a curator here to be able to get up close and personal like we are today a number of times. Joanna Bird, who's a specialist in ceramics, she's studied Samian pottery all her life. So that's the lovely red glossy tableware that's been produced in Gaul. She's looked at this and she says it's one of the best made, if not the best made pots in Roman Britain. Now, that's quite a statement to make, but she has been looking at this stuff for 40 or more years, actually. And if you do get up close and personal, as we've've been doing you can see how well made it is the

barber team which has to be piped on if you like that's incredibly difficult to do but if you look at the artistry I always think there's this huge dynamism to it here we have Mario lurching forwards the bear is looking back as it jumps forward. The whip trails down of Secundus. He's moving this way. You can see here Memnon and Valentinus. Everything's going on. There's all this power and movement, which I think is phenomenal. And the more I look at it, the more I would stake a claim to say,

yes, that we have one of the best made pots from Roman Britain. The devil really is in the detail, isn't it? Well, Glyn, this has been fantastic. This is one of the star objects, but not the only star object in your new exhibition all about gladiators. Tell us all about it. Gladiators, a day at the games here at Colchester Castle. Really we've responded to the ancient word spectacular, so we wanted to make a spectacle of it. So if you look around and we've had a look here today, it's like a comic book almost popping to life. Lots of colour, larger than life figures. That was the influence on the design of this exhibition to try and

make it feel like something really special, colourful etc. which is what a gladiatorial bout would have been in an arena. It's an imagined day at the Games so we're not saying this actually happened. The elephant in the room in some ways is where would this have happened in Colchester? Because we don't have an amphitheatre. But as an imagined day, we can go through the stages of the day. So the morning beast hunts at midday. You could have executions. We have the governor here sitting as chief justice, meeting our executions to criminals.

And then into the afternoon, the gladiator bout. So we follow this sort of traditional day at the games here we are outside the amphitheater and we have our market stalls so over here you can get your food and drink get your snacks before you go in and just over there we spoke about souvenirs all our souvenirs with price tags so if you've got enough cash on you so we're really riffing off that idea of you coming in and experiencing what it would have been like, if you like, a day at the Games. And in fact, we start downstairs, we kick off at the Temple. Gladiator Games, in a way, were really political and highly religious events. And a really important aspect of them, and we've based it on the imperial cult putting on these games for the emperor.

So that's the premise, if you like, of the exhibition. And the imperial cult here would have paid for these. There would have been a sacrifice and ceremony at the temple, which is exactly where we are now, where the castle is today, would have been the Temple of Claudius, and here the imperial cult would have operated from. And the idea is from there you would go in the procession, known as the pompa, all the way to the amphitheatre which

is behind us. Well it is quite a spectacle in itself and Glyn it just goes to me to say thank you so much for inviting me here to see this exhibition and a pleasure to have you back on History Hit. Oh you're welcome thank you very much. Well there you go there was Glyn Davis talking all things gladiators in Roman Britain. I hope you enjoyed the episode today and keep thinking about the Roman Empire. Now, last things from me. First of all, it's your last chance to vote for us at the People's Signal Awards. You can do that by clicking a link in the description below. Please vote for us in our Achilles episode. Don't vote for Dan, I beg you.

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We've got some really strong stuff to end the year with, but you'll find that out in the coming weeks. That's enough from me, and I'll see you in the next episode.