1,800-year-old Roman vase — filled with remains — tells story of gladiators in Britain

Sword poised to strike the winning blow, a gladiator looms over his opponent. The opponent raises his hand in a signal of defeat, seemingly at the last second. Is this a fight to the death? Or will the loser be spared?

The climactic, heart-stopping scene appears fit for a movie. Instead, the dramatic moment is captured in 1,800-year-old clay on a vase unearthed in the U.K.

Known as The Colchester Vase, the bronze-colored piece of Roman pottery was uncovered in 1853 at a grave in Colchester. Crafted in the second century A.D., the vase was filled with cremated remains, according to the Colchester Museums’ description of the artifact.

Although the vase has been admired for the last century, the artifact has been misunderstood, Glynn Davis, senior curator at Colchester Museums and Roman archaeologist, told McClatchy News.

“For 170 years, it’s always considered to be a souvenir piece in which the inscription was later added,” Davis said. The assumption was “it’s a generic piece.”

But the Colchester Vase had never been studied in depth until recently, when Davis and a collaborative team of experts took a closer look at the artifact. The core research team included John Pearce, Nina Crummy and Joanna Bird.

Their analysis revealed a story of gladiators in Roman Britain — a multilayered story encapsulated by a 9-inch tall vase.

The clay for the vase came from the Colchester area and was fired in a nearby kiln by a master potter, Davis said. The inscription along the top was not added later but carved before the pot was fired.

“This proves it was a commission piece and is representing a spectacle probably from Colchester,” he said.

The vase’s design has three scenes demarcated by small dots. The imagery almost moves the viewer through a typical day at an ancient Roman amphitheater, Davis said.

The first scene shows a pair of dogs chasing a stag and rabbit. The second scene shows two men “tormenting” a bear, Davis said. The men, Secundus and Mario, are named in the inscription above them.

Hunting activities like these, whether between animals or people and animals, were typical morning events at amphitheaters throughout the ancient Roman empire, Davis said.

The Colchester Vase’s third scene shows two gladiators at the peak of their fight. Memnon, the victor, has his sword raised over Valentinus, the loser, who holds up his index finger in a sign of defeat.

“We’ve caught a moment in time,” Davis said. “The commissioner has asked for this moment in time to be captured.”

“We don’t know what happens to Valentinus,” he said. “Not every gladiator battle in the ancient Roman world was a fight to the death. Far from it.” Instead, the sponsor of the gladiatorial game and the trainer would decide beforehand if the loser would be killed or spared.

Memnon and Valentinus were likely slaves and may have trained together, shared meals and shared living spaces at the same gladiatorial school.

“To be living and fighting like that alongside people who then potentially one day you’re going to have to execute, it’s really grizzly,” Davis said. “We should process it because Memnon and Valentinus, as we discovered, are real.”

With its commissioned spectacle scene, the Colchester Vase was probably a “trophy piece” and has no signs of use or wear, he said.

“At some point, it’s then used as a cremation vessel, but the person put in is so intimately connected (to the vase) that they want to be buried in it,” Davis said. “It could be a trainer, maybe even the sponsor of this event.”

Analysis of the cremated remains identified the deceased as a man at least 40 years old and not from the area but from another part of the U.K. or mainland Europe, Davis said.

Although gaps remain in the archaeological record of gladiators in Roman Britain, the vase “is the first evidence of a real spectacle being performed … with known individuals” in Colchester, Davis said.

The story of the Colchester Vase will be the centerpoint of “Gladiators: A Day At The Roman Games,” an exhibit at Colchester Castle opening in July, according to the museum’s website.

Davis and Pearce are co-authoring a research paper on the context surrounding the Colchester Vase. Crummy and Bird are co-authoring a paper about the master potter who crafted the vase. Both studies will be peer-reviewed and published in Britannia.

Colchester is about 55 miles northeast of London.

Ancient Roman resort, with waterfall-fed swimming pool, found in France. Take a look

Ancient tomb with ‘bridge of immortality’ found in China. It promised an eternal love

1,800-year-old Roman pools buried under a house in Spain are reopening. Look inside