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Gladiator knife handle found near Hadrian’s Wall
A rare knife handle in the shape of a gladiator found by divers in 1997 has been donated to English Heritage and will go on public display for the first time next year. The copper alloy figure was discovered near Corbridge Roman Town in Northumberland on Hadrian’s Wall and is in pristine condition, preserved in the water of the River Tyne for 2,000 years. Originally the handle for a folding knife, it is only the second Roman gladiator knife handle to be found in England.
The figure depicts a gladiator of the secutor class, a heavily armed fighter who carried a heavy rectangular shield and short sword. He wore a full-coverage helmet with two small openings to see through, a manica (arm guard) on his right arm and an ocrea (greave) on his left leg. The secutor was fielded again the retiarius who fought bareheaded and unshielded with a trident, net and dagger. This particular secutor is left-handed. Left-handedness was considered unlucky, so it is a distinguishing feature for a gladiator and may indicate the figure is depicting a specific fighter.
Another rare depiction of a gladiator on an object of English origin, the Colchester Vase, features a fight between a secutor and retiarius and both of them are named. Colchester, known to the Romans as Camulodunum, was a major city in the southeast and had two theaters where gladiatorial combat may have been staged. Corbridge, on the other hand, was a civilian settlement associated with a fort on the remote northern border of the Roman Empire. It was a bustling town that played a key commercial role as a supply base for the Roman army, one of only two civilian communities of substance on the wall (Carlisle is the other). It had granaries, public buildings, an aqueduct, a temple and housing for officers, but there was no theater or arena.
Dr Frances McIntosh, English Heritage’s Collections Curator for Hadrian’s Wall and the North East, said, ‘It is rare to find a piece of gladiator memorabilia in Britain and to find such a well preserved and interesting piece is particularly remarkable.
‘Despite being enslaved and socially outcast due to their profession, gladiators could become huge celebrities. Gladiators and the ‘spectacles’ were an integral part of Roman cultural life, taking place all across the Roman Empire. The phenomenon inspired the creation of sporting memorabilia, such as decorated ceramics and glass cups, lamps and figurines.
‘Gladiators had sex appeal and there are cases of high-status Roman women falling ‘in love’ with these lowly fighters, despite the vast social difference. This beautifully made knife handle is a testament to how pervasive this celebrity culture was, reaching all the way to Hadrian’s Wall at the very edge of the Roman Empire.”
The Tyne knife handle was finely cast and is a high-quality piece. It not mass-produced. It was likely a commissioned piece, and if it fell into the river by accident, the loss would have been much regretted.
The handle will go on display at Corbridge Roman Town in 2025 accompanied by other artifacts discovered in the River Tyne.
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