A Roman-Era Vase, Once Considered a Cremation Vessel, Turns Out to Be an Early Form of Sports Memorabilia for a Gladiator Fan

The Colchester Vase.
Photo: Colchester and Ipswich Museums.

It shouldn't be displayed on the floor, someone's been using it as a wastebasket. /jk

The other GGG topics added since Firebombing of Tokyo (80 years ago today) [03/09/2025]">the previous digest ping, alpha:

Ancient Cave Discovery Reveals That 8,000 Years Ago, the Sahara Was Green [03/10/2025]
Ancient Trees Frozen For 6,000 Years Emerge From Ice [03/09/2025]
Breakthrough Radiocarbon Analysis Sheds Light on Mysterious Human-Neanderthal Hybrid Remains [03/13/2025]
Britain's Oldest Prehistoric Circle Uncovered, Potential Blueprint for Stonehenge [03/10/2025]
Cleopatra: Short, Fat and Ugly [07/21/2002]
Did the Legendary Atlanteans Migrate to Europe After Atlantis Sank? [03/11/2025]
Edward II: Did a gay love affair spark a 14th-Century royal crisis? [03/11/2025]
Fossils in Classical Antiquity - what exactly was "The Monster of Troy"? [9:51] [03/13/2025]
How Ancient Greeks Spread Buddhism to the Known World [03/11/2025]
Humanity Is Domesticating One of Its Oldest Predators Responsible for the Deaths of Millions [03/12/2025]
Monster Megalodon sharks grew 80 feet with sleek bodies built for speed to rule seas [03/10/2025]
Neither Atlantis nor the Mayans: Artificial intelligence discovers a lost civilization beneath the desert sands [03/11/2025]
Northwestern Morocco was inhabited long before the Phoenicians arrived, 4,200-year-old settlement reveals [03/10/2025]
One of the Oldest Examples of Writing in the Northern Iberian Peninsula Discovered at an Iron Age Archaeological Site in Spain [03/15/2025]
Priceless ninth-century masterpiece Bible returns to Swiss homeland [03/09/2025]
Rare 200-Year-old Tiara resurfaces: Queen Mary dazzles at Finnish state banquet [03/11/2025]
Reconstructing the Oldest Pipe-Organ in the World [+Video] [08/03/2021]
- Why The Organ Is The Most Jewish Instrument [09/20/2021]
Sapiens and Neanderthals coexisted in prehistoric Israel, rare cave burials show [03/11/2025]
Strange Bedfellows: World War II alliance -- with some of the era's most notorious mobsters. [03/13/2025]
3,500-Year-Old Hittite Linen Fabric Exhibited for the First Time [03/10/2025]
The US Island That Speaks Elizabethan English [03/11/2025]
Watch: Overdue book returned to New Jersey library after 99 years [03/11/2025]
Wooden furniture of Herculaneum preserved from Vesuvius [9:21] [03/14/2025]

They found the autographs?

If it contained human remains, why wouldn’t they imagine it might be a memorial urn for one of the displayed fighters? After all, a normal outcome might not have included the competitors going out for a drink together afterwards.

Sports memorabilia… so THATS why it says “Valantinius Wears Air Jordan Sandals”….

Potential future topics (some may have been posted from different sources):

Could very well have been, and since gladiators were slaves (by and large) the urn may have been commissioned by his owner in memoriam.

One of those usually-useless YouTube shorts about the vase.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2hUrcZddwJw

Ingredient List (with sources) included.
Feeding the Army of Roman Britain | 21:15
Tasting History with Max Miller | 3.33M subscribers | 1,943,591 views | March 28, 2023

Originally purchased at the local coliseum from a guy yelling “Vino! Vino!”
Clay cup night.

Ya get to embarrass AND cremate the opponent. Wish I had that.

Worst concession at the Coliseum. “Burial urns here! Getcher burial urns here!”

Years ago I read, I read in Tacitus that one army had to live on meat when they preferred bread products.

Thanks, SunkenCiv.

They found my vase!!!

(Pronounced vahhhhhhhz).

When they had bobblehead day at the coliseum, there was only one available, and it was the guy’s actual head. ;^)

Along those lines, I’ve often wondered why Costco has the casket sales displays right by the exit, near the tires and the snack bar and pizza takeout.

My pleasure!

Probably found a cupboard with a few dozen similar but random cups like it.