Et Tu Coo Ke'
Female Gladiator
Archaeologists Find Signs of Buried Female Fighter
By Robert Barr
The Associated Press
Sept. 12 — A young woman who was cremated and
buried with costly goods centuries ago in Roman
London may be the first discovery of a female
gladiator, archaeologists said today.
The woman, estimated to be in her 20s, was identified
by a fragment of a pelvis. She was buried with one dish
decorated with the image of a fallen gladiator, and other
vessels with symbols associated with gladiators, said Hedley
Swain, head of the Early Department at the Museum of
London.
Specialists at the museum believe it may be the first
discovery of a female gladiator’s grave anywhere in the
world.
Signs of Status
“There is evidence of a very exotic and high-status feast,
including dates, almonds, figs and a dove,” Swain said.
There were also remains of pine cones imported from the
Mediterranean, which apparently were burned as incense.
Three lamps found in the grave were decorated with
images of the Egyptian god Anubis. This jackal-headed deity
was associated with the Roman god Mercury, and Swain
noted that slaves dressed as Mercury were employed to drag
away the bodies from amphitheaters.
Jenny Hall, curator of early London history at the
museum, estimated that there was a 70 percent chance this
was a female gladiator.
“The fact that we have this association with gladiators
indicates that she was a gladiator, or someone deeply
involved with gladiators,” Hall said.
“It is obviously quite a wealthy burial,” she added.
Other Women Warriors
It has long been known that women fought as gladiators.
There is an inscription in Pompeii which refers to women
in the arena, and to the Emperor Septimius Severus, who
ruled from A.D. 193 to 211.
Gladiator graves have been excavated at Trier, Germany,
but these did not include the trappings of wealth, Hall said.
The grave was found within a walled Roman cemetery on
the south bank of the Thames, in what is now Southwark.
Archaeologists from the museum also continue to analyze
the results of their excavations of the Roman amphitheater
found near the Guildhall in the financial district.
That amphitheater had room for 7,000 spectators, which
would have been about a third of the population of Roman
London. |
