Last month saw the opening of ‘Gladiators: A Day at the Roman Games’ – a new exhibition at Colchester Castle. It has been a long time in the making, having been scuppered, like so many projects, by the pandemic and ensuing recovery period. But time has also allowed Colchester Museums to hone this family exhibition, which takes visitors through an imagined day of spectacula at Roman Colchester.
Discovered in Colchester, this glass cup is decorated with a scene of gladiatorial combat.
Known as Camulodunum, the settlement was founded immediately after the Claudian invasion of AD 43, initially as a legionary fortress located within the defences of the existing late Iron Age oppidum. By c.AD 49, the legionary fortress had been converted to a colonia, a community of veteran soldiers and Roman citizens, and became the first capital of Roman Britain. The importance of Colchester is attested by its association with the Imperial Cult, centred on the Temple of Claudius – and, while the fledgling Colonia Claudia Victricensis was completely destroyed in the Boudican rebellion of AD 60/61, it was subsequently rebuilt and continued to flourish.
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