In the waters of the river near the Roman town of Corbridge, on Hadrian’s Wall, in Northumberland, a knife handle in the shape of a Roman gladiator has come to light. This unique find, made of copper alloy, represents a secutor gladiator, renowned for its impressive strength and heavy weaponry.
The discovery is special, not only because of its rarity, but also because it supports the theory that gladiators had reached even the most remote areas of the Roman empire.
Photo: English Heritage
The secutor gladiator
The secutor was one of the most famous types of gladiators. They were characterized by closed helmet, the large shield and the short sword. Unlike other gladiators, who carried light armor and moved with ease, the secutor was trained for hand-to-hand combat, relying on bulk and defensive skills.
An interesting fact is that the handle of this knife depicts a left-handed gladiator, something which, in Roman times, was considered a bad omen. However, it may depict a particular gladiator who, perhaps for strategic reasons, fought with his left hand – a tactic that caught opponents by surprise and gave him an advantage.
The form of the gladiator in the Roman Empire had gone beyond the realm of entertainment.
The gladiators were the most important personalities of the time, followed with zeal and devotion by the citizens, especially in the most cosmopolitan areas.
Frances McIntosh, curator of British Heritage’s collection for Hadrian’s Wall and the North East of England, emphasizes the uniqueness of this particular find.
Beloved throughout the length and breadth of the empire
According to McIntosh, the discovery of artifacts that refer to the gladiators is extremely rare. This is what makes this particular find so valuable, as it suggests that, even at the end of the roman empire, gladiators were popular figures and enjoyedwhich was imprinted on the personal belongings of the Romans, such as knives, lamps, decorated effigies.
In a historical period where the fighters were, as a rule, slaves and outcasts, the fact that they were so popular and part of the material culture was dedicated to them is fascinating. Gladiators were the object of romantic zeal. Many women of the high social level of the Roman Empire fell in love with gladiators, defying the social barriers of the time.
The phenomenon of the culture of these shining personalities and the worship of heroes, continues to this day, through the resurgence of interest in popular culture and the release of the homonymous film “The Gladiator”.
The rich collection
As well as the knife handle, the interest in gladiators is evident from other items in the vast collection of British Heritage.
Among the most notable is a Samian ceramic cup depicting a battle between gladiators discovered in Richborough, Kent.
In one of the carved inscriptions, depicting a triumphant gladiator brandishing a shield, as his defeated opponent is kneeling before him – a scene which emphasizes the violent and spectacular nature of these battles which captured the interest of the Roman public throughout the empire.
The amphitheater at Richborough, which was a center of entertainment for the empire’s immigrant communities, has a cell for the detention of gladiators and wild animals, before the spectacle.
Its existence testifies that duels were fought not only with humans, but also with game, known as venationes (from venatio, a type of entertainment in Roman amphitheatres using game), and which were an integral part of amphitheater events.
The legacy of gladiator culture has been recorded in other artefacts discovered in England, such as glass flasks in Roman towns such as Wroxeter and Aldborough.
These flasks, which contained perfumes or water flavored with saffron, were used to spray the spectators, as a touch of luxury and a sense of intellectual superiority to the spectacles.
At Corbridge, a fragment of glass has also been discovered depicting a painting of a leopard, which has recently been interpreted as part of an animal hunting scene.
Source: www.enikos.gr
