Gruesome

In AD 177, a group of Christians from the city of Lyons in southern Gaul was forced into the arena to die, facing wild animals and all sorts of other horrific tortures. The story of their final hours, as transmitted in the fifth book of the Ecclesiastical History by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, contains an important number of elements that will be familiar to many: brave martyrs willing to die for their beliefs, a hostile Roman governor who was determined to make them suffer, and gruesome public executions that turned the victims into examples for all future Christians.

Stories like this one joined the foundational narratives of the church, and also continue to shape our perception of Christianity’s legal position within the ancient world to this very day. Christian martyrs have been depicted in paintings and films, are referenced in political debates, and have given their names to streets, squares, churches, and schools all over the world.