Rare Roman Knife Handle Depicting Gladiator Found Near Hadrian’s Wall

A rare Roman knife handle, moulded in the shape of a secutor gladiator, was found in the River Tyne at Corbridge Roman Town near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England. Approximately 2,000-years-old, the carved copper figure is roughly three inches tall, and was found by a diver three decades ago, and had remained in his private collection – until now. He has agreed to loan the knife handle to English Heritage, so it can be put on display in conjunction with the release of the blockbuster movie  Gladiator II.

The most telling thing about the dagger and its remarkable handle is that is shows how the celebrity status of gladiators reached every corner of the sprawling Roman Empire. This particular type of gladiator would have been seen as a celebrity in ancient times, explaining why such an image would have been engraved on a physical object.

Gladiators and their Celebrity Status: Entertaining the Masses

This artifact represents an unusual find on English soil.

Roman knife handle depicting secutor gladiator, found in River Tyne in 2004. (The Portable Antiquities Scheme, Philippa Walton/CC BY-SA 4.0).

“It is rare to find a piece of gladiator memorabilia in Britain, and to find such a well-preserved and interesting piece is particularly remarkable,” explained Dr. Frances McIntosh, English Heritage’s Collections Curator for Hadrian’s Wall and the North East in a statement.

“Despite being enslaved and socially outcast due to their profession, gladiators could become huge celebrities,” he continued. “Gladiators and the ‘spectacles’ were an integral part of Roman cultural life, taking place all across the Roman Empire. The phenomenon inspired the creation of sporting memorabilia, such as decorated ceramics and glass cups, lamps and figurines.”

In totality, the secutor gladiator is represented with a helmet, sword, and large shield, symbolizing ‘a strong muscular fighter with heavy equipment.’ He’s left-handed, which may have been considered unlucky at this time in history, though it is equally possible that he had an advantage over his opponents.

While he could have been a general figure, he may also have represented a very specific gladiator from history.

Secutors were generally trained to fight retiarius gladiators. These individuals were more nimble, agile, and less armed, and would carry a net, trident, and dagger. Their faces were not covered, and this implied that the best-looking men were chosen for this role. The retiarius would only wear a short tunic or apron, and would try to use the net he carried to entrap his opponent.

In the Roman world, a series of fights pitting a secutor against a retiarius would be included as part of a day of entertainment, one that began with animal hunts before moving onto prisoner executions, reports The Guardian.

Gladiators, as a class of people, were generally enslaved persons or condemned criminals, trained as fighters to participate in public games held across the empire between 105 BC and 404 AD. These events were organized by the wealthy elite, often the emperor, and were meant for entertaining the masses. Though the gladiators were social outcasts, and thus it became a popular slur to tell someone they’d been fathered by a gladiator, as a way of insulting or alluding to their mother’s promiscuity.

High Sex Appeal: Gladiators in Modern-Day Cinema

The knife handle is a testament to how essential gladiators and the gladiatorial games were to the Roman Empire’s sense of identity.

“Gladiators had sex appeal and there are cases of high-status Roman women falling ‘in love’ with these lowly fighters, despite the vast social difference,” noted Dr. McIntosh. “This beautifully made knife handle is a testament to how pervasive this celebrity culture was, reaching all the way to Hadrian’s Wall at the very edge of the Roman Empire. Even now, almost 2,000 years later, the fascination around gladiators persists and has expanded even further into modern popular culture, as evidenced by the excitement surrounding the new Gladiator film sequel.”

Classical historians disagree over some aspects of the way Roman gladiators have been portrayed in cinema. They object, for example, to the suggestions that gladiators were frequently killed during their battles. Gladiators were highly trained combatants and losing them indiscriminately would have been significantly more expensive than having the same fighter compete in many battles.

Illustration of the various types of Roman gladiators. Simeon Netchev/World History Encyclopedia/CC BY-NC-ND).

In the newly released film, historians were also dismayed by the portrayal of a gladiator riding a rhino and the Roman Colosseum being filled with sharks and water. In fact, the ancient Romans were unlikely to have been familiar with sharks at all.

How and why this knife ended up in the Tyne river is a mystery. It could have been an accident, or it could have been discarded there deliberately. In any case, English Heritage will be putting the unique knife handle on display, along with other artifacts that have been removed from the river, at Corbridge Roman Town in 2025.

Top image: Roman gladiators depicted in mosaic from the year 200 AD. Source: Unknown Author/Public Domain.

By Sahir Pandey