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A few months after Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II epic appeared at cinemas comes a small-scale but outstanding travelling exhibition dedicated to these iconic ancient-world fighters. Gladiators of Britain shifts the spotlight away from the well-known venue of Rome’s Colosseum to examine the staging of this deadly sport on our own shores. It has been organised by the British Museum in conjunction with Colchester + Ipswich Museums.
It was at Colchester – the original capital of Roman Britain – that the first material evidence of gladiatorial combat in these islands was discovered. The exhibition features several items from the city, including the star of the show: the Colchester Vase. Dating from around AD 175, it depicts animal hunts and a duel between two gladiators whose names, Memnon and Valentinus, can be clearly read.
The level of detail is remarkable. One of the combatants is a highly armoured secutor with shield and helmet, while the other is a less well-protected retiarius, who relied on speed to pin his opponent down using a net and trident. Here is a tangible link to two named individuals. Yet we know tantalisingly little about the context of the object. It had been turned into a funeral urn, containing the ashes of a high-status citizen, perhaps someone who had sponsored the Games.
Armed for combat
The vase is just one of an array of objects that have been brought together to evoke the grisly shows that once delighted Roman audiences. A bone figurine, possibly from a knife handle, shows a murmillo wearing his distinctive fish-shaped helmet. On the outside of his shield is depicted his triumph over a fallen opponent. Alongside is a bronze figurine of a thraex – a Thracian gladiator with crested helmet and protective arm guard. A highly coloured section of a fresco wall painting from Colchester shows a murmillo in combat with a hoplomachos – a fighter armed like a hoplite from one of the Greek city-states.
Also on view is the Hawkedon Helmet from Suffolk, the only piece of gladiatorial armour to have been found in Britain. The highly polished headpiece was made in Italy, and its wearer is likely to have come to Britain with a troop of gladiators during or soon after the invasion of AD 43. The unusual purity of the metal makes it likely that the item was commissioned by a senior member of the Roman elite.
It bears marks of impact during combat, along with several small carved sword images, possibly representing the gladiator’s victories. Perhaps, having retired from the arena, he buried the helmet as an offering to the gods in thanksgiving for his survival. Alternatively, it may have been looted by Boudica’s rebel army after the sack of Colchester in AD 60. This is conjecture, of course, and there is much about the world of the gladiator that we cannot know. But the exhibition does much to extend our understanding of this vanished era.
The locations of 17 Romano-British amphitheatres are known. They were relatively small, seating from 6,000 to 8,000 spectators, and were mostly built on the edge of towns such as Dorchester, Chester, and Caerleon, for the entertainment of the local population. The bloodthirsty events that took place in these arenas were laid on by wealthy and powerful individuals to garner public support and demonstrate their local prominence. A great deal of money was at stake, with spectators betting on the outcome as the desperate men below them fought for survival.
The men under the helmet
So, who were the gladiators and what was their position in Roman society? The exhibition highlights their ambivalent status. Classified as infamis (a person of ill-repute), a gladiator was denied the rights of a Roman citizen. Many of the fighters were in effect slaves, as a grim collection of iron chains demonstrates. They were owned and trained by a purchaser, known as a lanista, who could make a considerable fortune from the trade.
Gladiators took a solemn oath to risk their lives for the gratification of others: ‘I will endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword.’ Yet they were often feted as celebrities. The exhibition highlights the cult status that gladiators could attain, using a range of mass-produced merchandise, from helmet-shaped lamps to cups commemorating their exploits.
The curators have worked hard to illustrate the nature of gladiatorial life – and death. A marble relief vividly showing combat between a man and a lion reminds us that some gladiators, known as venatores, were trained to fight wild animals. Evidence from a cemetery at York, where a pelvis bearing the bite-marks of a large beast was found, suggests that this was the work of a lion. This indicates that not only gladiators, but also some of the animals they fought, were imported into Britain.
The exhibition includes a local dimension. It features a section on Maumbury Rings, a Neolithic earthwork near Dorchester that had been transformed after the Roman invasion into an amphitheatre. Readers of Thomas Hardy’s novel The Mayor of Casterbridge may recall a pivotal scene set in the deserted arena. It may be that soldiers of the 2nd Augustan Legion, based at Dorchester before it became a civilian town, were employed in the construction work.
If you don’t catch this travelling exhibition at Dorchester, see the list of alternative venues around the country at the beginning of this article. For anyone fascinated by combat in the ancient world, a visit is highly recommended.
Gladiators of Britain
Until 11 May 2025 (£15)
Dorset Museum and Art Gallery, High West Street, Dorchester, DT1 1XA
www.dorsetmuseum.org/whats-on/gladiators-of-britain/
+44 (0)1305 262735
Then at:
• Northampton Museum and Art Gallery (24 May-7 September 2025)
• Grosvenor Museum, Chester (20 September 2025-25 January 2026)
• Tullie – Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle (7 February-19 April 2026)
All images: The Trustees of the British Museum/Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service – Colchester Collection
MHM visits…
EVENT
Duxford Summer Air Show
21-22 June 2025
IWM Duxford, Cambridge CB22 4QR
http://www.iwm.org.uk/airshows/duxford-summer-air-show
Adult £49.50
As part of the Imperial War Museum’s annual flying season, the Duxford Summer Air Show returns this June with a spectacular weekend line-up of events for all the family to enjoy. Highlights include the aerobatic formation displays of Team Raven – who, flying their self-build RV8 aircraft, will paint shapes across the Duxford sky.
EXHIBITIONS
Pirates
Until 4 January 2026
National Maritime Museum, Romney Road, London SE10 9NF
http://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/national-maritime-museum/pirates
Adult £15
Heroic rascals or violent criminals? A major new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich explores the perception of piracy in popular culture – from comic characters like Captain Pugwash and Captain Hook to anti-heroes like Long John Silver and Jack Sparrow – and examines why the idea of a pirate’s life still fascinates us today.
Sacred Service
Permanent
National WWI Museum and Memorial, 2 Memorial Drive, Kansas City, MO 64108
http://www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/sacred-service
Adult $19
‘A good chaplain is as valuable as a good general,’ said Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig in December 1915. Chaplains, along with rabbis, monks, imams, and priests, served with all the major fighting nations in the First World War, and sought to bring guidance and comfort to millions on and off the battlefield, as this exhibition explores.
