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It's the ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host,

and in today's episode, well, you've probably been thinking quite a lot about the Roman Empire recently,

perhaps more than usual. Well, let's keep that going, because today,

we're talking all about gladiators in Roman Britain. There is a brand new exhibition that is

opened at Colchester Castle Museum, which explores our current evidence for gladiators in this part

of the Roman Empire. And a few weeks back, I headed up to the museum to interview its lead curator

of this exhibition, Glen Davis. Now, in this episode, we focus in particular on one striking

artifact, a massive beaker known as the Colchester Vars, and it's full of striking details,

one of the finest pieces of pottery from Roman Britain. One of the scenes, the main scene,

depicts two gladiators fighting. We even have their names surviving, so could these gladiators

be actual fighters who battled in the arena at Roman Colchester? Well, you're going to find out

in today's episode. Now, of course, we explore various details of this Vars. And if you'd like a

visual aid to see this Vars as we're chatting, well, you're in luck, because we filmed this interview

and it's already been released on the History Hit YouTube channel, so you can see the Vars there

as we're discussed. I really do hope you enjoy, and here's Glen.

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