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The Colchester Vase, 2nd Century AD
© Colchester Museum
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The first shopkeepers: Commercial life in Roman Colchester |
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The Colchester Vase, 2nd Century AD
© Colchester Museum |
So it would not be too fanciful to imagine a Roman veteran like Saturninus (whose citizen diploma was found at St Mary’s Hospital) wandering down the High Street of Colchester, stopping to buy a fine Samian dinner bowl, or a set of toy clay figures for his son, before sitting down to a meal like the ones he used to get at home in the local fast-food restaurant on the corner of the street.
Yet Colchester was also catering for another market, one which was the driving force of the Roman economy. The Roman army acted much like the public sector does in our modern marketplace: without its large-scale contracts, many local industries would not have been able to survive. This was very true of Colchester’s burgeoning pottery industry.
Throughout its life, something like 50% of its output went to the army, mainly in everyday goods like mortaria grindstones and beakers. This gave it the financial security to branch out into other areas. During the late second century, long after the city had been rebuilt from its ashes, it tried to compete with the Samian factories of Roman Gaul, but Samian was going out of fashion by that time, and this short-lived experiment only ever seems to have served a local market.
Much more successful was an orange rough-cast ware similar to types found in the Nene Valley, decorated by a red, brown or black colour-wash and adorned with raised motifs in what is known as the ‘barbotine’ style. The best example of this is the so-called Colchester Vase, depicting various gladiatorial motifs, including beast handlers. Examples of this ware are found as far north as the Antonine Wall (beyond Hadrian’s Wall), suggesting they too were bought and used by the military.
Words: Dr Mark Ibeji
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