Introduction

This evening, I am reporting on a special exhibition of gladiators in Roman Britain. This entailed a 200 mile round trip visit to the Tullie Museum in Carlisle, England. Carlisle sits on the western edge of Hadrian’s Wall.

Gladiator Helmet

Information on Gladiators in Roman Britain

The Tullie exhibition explores the lives and deaths of those who fought in Britain’s arenas. This entails access to extraordinary relevant objects from across the country and beyond.

Many arenas have been lost during the approximately 1600 years since the Romans departed. However, some still exist such as that at Cirencester in the Cotswolds region and Chester (both in England).

Cirencester Amphitheatre

Here is a list of the various classes of gladiators and their weapons.

Retiarius: Net Fighter: Trident and Net

Secutor: Pursuer: Straight Sword

Thraex: The Thracian: Curved Sword

Murmillo: The Fish: Straight Sword

Model of gladiators in combat

Gladiator’s Helmet

Incredibly well preserved wooden practice items comprising sword and human target

Oil lamp modelled on a gladiator’s helmet

Oil lamp modelled on a gladiator’s helmet

Decorative relief of gladiators in combat with a lion

Video clip of exhibits with information on the rules of combat.

Video clip of various artefacts including gaming counters.

Miscellaneous items including coins and painted wall decoration.

Colchester Vase-pièce de résistance. This is an ancient Romano- British vase made from local clay from Colchester, England, dating to 175 AD, depicting a gladiator battle between two individuals: Memnon and Valentinus, which are believed to be stage names. (Note that Colchester is the oldest recorded town in Britain and pre-dates London as England’s capital.)

Video clip of vase: https://youtube.com/shorts/jIc-7BRFCfQ?si=8xPFVd1ZF7uCR81H

More information

Information on Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall and Scotland’s history can be found in Visitors’ Guide to Scotland. The ISBN is 978-1-9161332-0-4. This book is also available via Kindle.