German Gladiator Valetinus

[leon21]

 

Watched the BBC programme A History of Ancient Britain last night, did anybody else see it. What caught my eye was the

Colchester Roman Vase found in 1848 in a grave at West Lodge Colchester. It depicts a hunting scene and 4 Gladiators one

is of the German Gladiator Valetinus, the vase date's from AD.175. On Valentinus shield one can see the image of a swastika,

 

my question is was the swastika a religious symbol or just a tribal image in ancient times. Does anybody know.??

 

 

 

Here's a picture of the vase.

[STUKA STEVE]

The swastika in ancient times represented the continous cycle of life which is the mobile swastika continously moving,to the nordic peoples of Europe or the Vikings if one wants to simplify it,it meant the same also.Its been seen in India where it is a sanskrit hindu symbol and in South America with the Inca peoples.There are numerous variations of the same style throughout the world.Only in the latter 20th century has it been frowned upon and even now only in the western world due to its cynical hijacking by the nationalist groups in Germany in the 1900s and later by the Nazis.

How ironic that a peaceful symbol becomes renowned for evil by its hijack by a bunch of gangsters!

[Dave]

The swastika was used as a good luck symbol in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many Germans carried one in the trenches hence its use by the Nazis.

I had for many years a British Co-op badge with a swastika on it, which I found in an old furniture van, and a vase with a black cat wearing a swastika tag. Both had the swastika the other way round and had no connection with the Nazis or any other fascist organisation.

[leon21]

 

 

Thanks for the info guys, excellent answers. It must have been lucky for Valetinus for he was a very famous

Gladiator at this time, maybe he was another (Maximus Decimus Meridius)