Several amphitheatres are known from Roman Britain. Remains of the one in London includes a dramatic reconstruction that helps visitors to understand the space.
One of the most dramatic examples can be found at Cirencester, with another at Silchester. Amphitheatres are also known from the legionary fortresses at Caerleon and Chester.
Gladiatorial combats feature in the mosaics from the villa at Bignor suggesting familiarity with gladiators.
The Hawkedon gladiatorial helmet from Suffolk and now in the British Museum is suggested by some to have been derived from the Roman colony at Colchester, and a gladiator carved from bone and now in the British Museum is also said to come from Colchester.
The so-called ‘Colchester Vase’, decorated with gladiatorial scenes, was discovered in a cemetery off the Lexden Road in 1848. This is the subject of a report (Dalya Alberge, ‘Startling’ new evidence reveals gladiators fought in Roman Britain. The Observer (London) March 4, 2023; James Fitzgerald, ‘Gladiator fights were staged in Roman Britain, evidence suggests‘, BBC News March 6, 2023) that claims ‘Gladiator fights were once staged in Roman-occupied Britain’. Alberge notes a forthcoming ‘research paper’ by Glynn Davis of Colchester Museum and John Pearce of King’s College London. The new research presumably has as its focus a re-interpretation of the pot and its decoration.
Heritage Futures 