Early Imperial, Neronian or early Flavian

Glᴀss gladiator cup, Glᴀss, Roman

Translucent greenish yellow.

Everted, unworked, knocked-off rim; slightly irregular and oval-shaped body with vertical sides; convex undercurve with low base ring; flat but uneven bottom. A continuous mold seam runs from rim, down sides (concealed by palm fronds), and across bottom.

On body, two friezes run around the sides; the upper and narrower frieze contains four names, widely spaced; the lower frieze, flanked above and below by a horizontal ridge, is broader and comprises two scenes divided by vertical palm fronds, each containing two pairs of gladiators in varying stances with four names inserted between them at the top of the scenes.

ipernity: Roman Glᴀss Gladiator Cup in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July  2007 - by LaurieAnnie

Broken and repaired, but with some losses to rim and body; a few pinprick and larger bubbles, and a few gritty impurities; slight dulling and pitting, and faint iridescent weathering.

Ars Vitraria: Glᴀss in The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Metropolitan  Museum of Art

The scene around the cup depicts four pairs of gladiators fighting. Each man is identified by name in the Latin inscription above him. Some of the names match those of known gladiators who became famous in games held in Rome during the Julio-Claudian period, suggesting that such cups may have been made as souvenirs.

Related Posts

The ancient Ibaloi people smoked their ᴅᴇᴀᴅ for months to preserve them

A dark cave thousands of feet up the side of a remote mountain in the Philippines is the final resting place of these curious corpses known as…

Scientists uncover why at least 100 ᴅᴇᴀᴅ bodies have naturally mummified in Colombian town since 1960s

A resident of a Colombian town was baffled to find her mother’s body had naturally mummified after she died 30 years ago. The occurrence was discovered in…

Mystery around controversial Peru ‘alien mummies’ deepens after new fingerprint analysis indicates they’re NOT ‘HUMAN’

Bizarre diagonal grooves along the fingertips and toes of one of Peru’s eerie and H๏τly debated ‘alien mummies’ points to a nonhuman origin for these odd remains. Worldwide controversy has…

Does France’s 2,500-year-old royal tomb belong to a prince or princess? Stunning Celtic find complete with chariot and jewels leaves archaeologists baffled

The remains of an ancient Celtic prince or princess found still wearing a solid gold torque and lavish bracelets in a grave filled with riches has left archaeologists…

Ancient Pompeii home with ‘untouched’ frescoes of mythological scenes uncovered by archaeologists 2,000 years after being buried in volcanic rubble

A small home in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii filled with untouched frescoes of mythological scenes has been uncovered by archaeologists after being buried under volcanic…

The real-life Atlantis? Archaeologists discover new treasures in a mysterious underwater city off the coast of Egypt dating back at least 1,000 years

Archaeologists have uncovered new treasures from Heracleion, the ‘lost’ Egyptian city that sunk into the Mediterranean Sea over 1,000 years ago. The ‘precious’ new finds, shared by French…