Green glazed beaker with relief decoration of gladiators fighting, Roman Period, 2nd century A.D., h. 13 cm. Collection Valkhof Museum, loan from Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, XVII.1.

Fighting as entertainment

Treasure hunters found this beaker on the site where an extensive cemetery lay, south of the city of Ulpia Noviomagus, in the Roman era. The beaker is in a combination of relief decoration and glaze, probably made in a potter’s workshop in Cologne.

The scenes depicted show gladiators fighting one another. Each is equipped differently. A secutor with a sword and a retiarius with a trident are fully engaged in their struggle. The combat between a murmillo and a thraex has not yet begun, or has been interrupted by the umpire. The names of these two gladiators are indicated above their image. Perhaps they once fought in the Cologne amphitheatre.