London SE1 > News & Features > October 2000

Female gladiator found in Southwark

The remains of a female gladiator have been found in Southwark. Items in the grave discovered near Great Dover Street include a lamp depicting a fallen gladiator.

"I have not heard of any other discoveries of female gladiators" said Jenny Hall of the Museum of London.

The left-overs from the funeral meal were placed in the tomb to accompany the 20 year old dead woman, whose body had been cremated, into the next world. The menu included dates almonds and figs.
Since we know that female gladiators were banned by Emperor Septimus Severus in AD 200 the burial must be at least 1800 years old. She would have done battle across the river on the site of Guildhall Yard in the City which was then Londinium. A bridge, almost on the line of the present London Bridge, linked the Roman buildings on the south bank and the cemetery site where the body was found.
However, although an inscription at Pompeii refers to women in the arena some experts are doubtful about the Southwark find.
Dr Mary Beard, a leading authority on Roman women, says: "The evidence for this particular grave being that of a female gladiator seems thin. Lamps with images of gladiators are ten a penny in the Roman world and we have no idea whether gladiators were buried inside or outside cemeteries."
Lindsay Allason-Jones, archaeological expert at the University of Newcastle, agrees and suggests that the lady was an ordinary member of a North African merchant family.
The Grave Concerns exhibition is at the Museum of London until 29 October.

www.museumoflondon.org.uk

www.molas.org.uk