New evidence for the use of lions during executions in Roman Britain

New evidence for the use of lions during executions in Roman Britain

According to recently found evidence, the Romans transported LIONS and exotic animals to Britain to fight prisoners and captives to death.

The barbaric spectacle is typically associated with the Colosseum in Rome where the executions often occurred during the gladiator games - made famous by the film Gladiator starring Russel Crowe.

But a carved bronze key handle unearthed during an excavation in Leicester suggests the animalistic killings also happened in Britain.

The 120mm (4.5 inch) handle depicts an unarmed barbarian grappling with a lion, while four naked young men appear to be cowering in fear.

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The 300g artefact was discovered in the city centre, on a site which is now a Novotel hotel - and just a 10-minute walk from the car park where RIchard III was famously discovered in 2012.

Dr John Pearce, senior lecturer in archaeology at King’s College London, described the find as ‘really quite surprising’, declaring it ‘the first evidence that Roman Britain imported lions for the execution of captives in public spectacles in Leicester’.

He worked jointly with Dr Gavin Speed and Nicholas Cooper, archaeologists from Leicester University, and their findings will be published tomorrow in the academic journal Britannia.

The handle was found buried in the floor of what would have been a grand townhouse, measuring around 40 metres (130ft) in length.

It suggests the Roman Empire would have managed to transport lions from Rome to Britain, an amazing feat for the time period.

As late as the 19th century, hunters who procured animals for zoos expected two-thirds of their hauls to die before arriving at their destination - and they had steamships and trains.

The Romans would import lions to Rome from Mesopotamia and north Africa. And so prolific was its taste for exotic animals, populations of north African elephants, Eurasian lynxes and hippos from the Nile were wiped out.

Martial, a Roman poet, once detailed how a Caledonian bear from Scotland was employed as an ‘agent of execution’ in Rome.

In the Colosseum and elsewhere, tens of thousands of spectators would gather and watch as wild beasts were set upon captives, criminals and deserters - who would often try to take their own lives to avoid such a gruesome death.

But until now, such spectacles are not thought to have been possible in Britain due to the logistical nightmare of transporting large wild animals from Rome.

Dr Pearce told the Times: ‘The animal might come from one of those imperial parks around Rome, used for the Colosseum.

‘You can imagine a journey by sea, probably to the mouth of the River Rhône, with the lion caged on board ship, up river to Lyons then probably a wagon journey to the River Rhine, down river and across the North Sea to London or the mouth of the Humber.

‘The odds were stacked heavily against its survival. There is interesting evidence from the 19th century, when you have animal hunters procuring animals for zoos, and even though they have steamships and railways, they are expecting two thirds to die before they get to their destinations.

‘In the Roman period the rate of attrition must have been higher.’ In the absence of lions and elephants, Romans in Britain would have sourced local wolves, boars, stags and hunting dogs.

While Roman art featured exotic creatures and foreign barbarians from far away lands, the key handle discovered in Leicester is different because it would have been a working part of a building.

Additionally, the barbarian’s face, beard and hair are similar to other depictions in Roman Britain and the four young men are reminiscent of Christian martyrdom narratives. If the Romans did bring a lion to Leicester, it means many more were imported to Britain before their rule ended in 410AD.

Experts are now re-considering other clues that lions were brought to British shores, including a 4th century mosaic found in a villa at Rudston in the Yorkshire Wolds.

Dr Pearce said: ‘It has always intrigued people because it’s got a scene that looks really out of place: it looks like a botched version of something you might find in North Africa.

People assumed this was just someone copying North African mosaics, and had nothing to do with anything happening in Britain.

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‘I wonder, with the Leicester artefact, if we should no longer treat that mosaic as a generic one.’

Meanwhile a gladiator found in a cemetery southwest of York could be the first Brit killed by a lion, as experts establish what caused his puncture wounds.