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Height: 19.500 cm

P&EE 1966 6-5 1

Room 49: Roman Britain

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Gladiators

Gladiator's helmet

The wearer's face would have been encased in an intricate hinged visor with eye-guards (now lost), similar to helmets that have been found in Pompeii. With the exception of the retiarius, who fought bare-headed, all categories of gladiator wore a visored helmet. It gave the fighter a threatening anonymity. This bronze helmet originally had a tinned surface, giving it a shiny silver appearance.

This helmet is one of the best pieces of evidence for gladiatorial combat in Roman Britain. The nearest place that gladiators are likely to have fought was Colchester, the leading town of the province in the first century AD, and just twenty miles away from where the helmet was found.