- Oct 2, 2011
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Spencer McDaniel wrote the following:
Yes, but the key phrases here are “lions” and “Roman Colosseum.”
There are plenty of sources written by both Christian and non-Christian authors that reliably record Christians being punished for refusing to worship the Greco-Roman gods. Some sources record Christians being killed in various ways, which apparently sometimes included being fed to wild animals for popular amusement.
For instance, the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus (lived c. 56 – c. 120 AD), who was not a Christian and in fact hated Christians, describes in a famous passage in his Annals 15.44 how, following the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, the Roman emperor Nero blamed Christians for having allegedly set the fire and had many Christians tortured and executed on account of this. Tacitus writes, as translated by Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb, and Sara Bryant:
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
Therefore, it seems there were at least a few incidents in which Christians were indeed given over to wild animals to be torn apart and possibly eaten for popular entertainment.
Christians, then, were at least occasionally killed in horrific ways to entertain the masses. Nonetheless, we have no evidence of Christians specifically being fed to lions in the Roman Colosseum. We know that Christians were certainly not fed to lions in the Colosseum during Nero’s persecution, since Nero died in June 68 AD and construction on the Colosseum did not even begin until 70 AD during the reign of the emperor Vespasian. The Colosseum was not completed until 80 AD during the reign of Vespasian’s son Titus.
During the later years of Nero’s reign, the site on which the Colosseum now stands was actually allocated for the construction of Nero’s personal pleasure palace: the Domus Aurea, or “Golden House.” Vespasian, however, declared that the site would instead be used for the Colosseum, a public monument. It is possible that later emperors may have had Christians killed in the Colosseum, but, if this ever happened, we have no definitive record of it.
The Christian Church Father Eirenaios of Lyons (lived c. 130 – c. 202 AD) records that the martyr Ignatios of Antioch was fed to lions in the city of Rome in 107 AD, but he does not say exactly where in the city this supposedly happened. Since, as I discuss in this article I wrote in February 2019, we know that it was common for convicted criminals to be fed to lions and other animals for popular entertainment, Eirenaios’s account is plausible. Nonetheless, since Eirenaios does not say that Ignatios was fed to lions specifically in the Colosseum, we should not assume that this was the case, since there were many other sites in Rome where he could have been fed to lions.
The belief that many early Christians were martyred in the Colosseum seems to have arisen in around the sixteenth century. Pope Pius V (served as pope 1566 – 1572) supposedly urged pilgrims to collect sand from the Colosseum, believing that the sand was infused with the holy blood of Christian martyrs.
Ironically, the belief that early Christians had been martyred in the Colosseum is quite possibly the only reason why the Colosseum still exists today at all. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Colosseum stood abandoned and it used as effectively a stone quarry. When people needed building materials, they would just take stones from the Colosseum and reuse them, because it was much easier than quarrying new stones altogether. This is the main reason why so much of the building is now gone; people took the stones and used them for other building projects.
During the Renaissance, many, many ancient Roman buildings and monuments were torn down to make space for new buildings. The idea was to clear out the old, crumbling buildings that were just sitting there taking up space and replace them with nice, new buildings that people would actually have uses for. Pope Clement X (served as pope 1670 – 1676), however, consecrated the Colosseum as a holy site, forbidding anyone from desecrating it. Later, Pope Benedict XIV (served as pope 1740 – 1758) forbade anyone from using the Colosseum as a quarry.
Thus, even though there is no evidence that early Christians were ever executed in the Colosseum, the belief that they were is one of the main reasons why the Colosseum still exists today. This is similar to how, the main reason why the famous Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius from the Capitoline Hill has survived is because people mistook it for a statue of Constantine I, the first Christian emperor, so they preserved it. If they had known it was only the pagan emperor Marcus Aurelius and not the great Christian emperor Constantine I, they probably would have melted it down for its metal, just like the over a hundred other equestrian statues of Roman emperors that once stood in the city of Rome.
Yes, but the key phrases here are “lions” and “Roman Colosseum.”
There are plenty of sources written by both Christian and non-Christian authors that reliably record Christians being punished for refusing to worship the Greco-Roman gods. Some sources record Christians being killed in various ways, which apparently sometimes included being fed to wild animals for popular amusement.
For instance, the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus (lived c. 56 – c. 120 AD), who was not a Christian and in fact hated Christians, describes in a famous passage in his Annals 15.44 how, following the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, the Roman emperor Nero blamed Christians for having allegedly set the fire and had many Christians tortured and executed on account of this. Tacitus writes, as translated by Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb, and Sara Bryant:
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
Therefore, it seems there were at least a few incidents in which Christians were indeed given over to wild animals to be torn apart and possibly eaten for popular entertainment.
Christians, then, were at least occasionally killed in horrific ways to entertain the masses. Nonetheless, we have no evidence of Christians specifically being fed to lions in the Roman Colosseum. We know that Christians were certainly not fed to lions in the Colosseum during Nero’s persecution, since Nero died in June 68 AD and construction on the Colosseum did not even begin until 70 AD during the reign of the emperor Vespasian. The Colosseum was not completed until 80 AD during the reign of Vespasian’s son Titus.
During the later years of Nero’s reign, the site on which the Colosseum now stands was actually allocated for the construction of Nero’s personal pleasure palace: the Domus Aurea, or “Golden House.” Vespasian, however, declared that the site would instead be used for the Colosseum, a public monument. It is possible that later emperors may have had Christians killed in the Colosseum, but, if this ever happened, we have no definitive record of it.
The Christian Church Father Eirenaios of Lyons (lived c. 130 – c. 202 AD) records that the martyr Ignatios of Antioch was fed to lions in the city of Rome in 107 AD, but he does not say exactly where in the city this supposedly happened. Since, as I discuss in this article I wrote in February 2019, we know that it was common for convicted criminals to be fed to lions and other animals for popular entertainment, Eirenaios’s account is plausible. Nonetheless, since Eirenaios does not say that Ignatios was fed to lions specifically in the Colosseum, we should not assume that this was the case, since there were many other sites in Rome where he could have been fed to lions.
The belief that many early Christians were martyred in the Colosseum seems to have arisen in around the sixteenth century. Pope Pius V (served as pope 1566 – 1572) supposedly urged pilgrims to collect sand from the Colosseum, believing that the sand was infused with the holy blood of Christian martyrs.
Ironically, the belief that early Christians had been martyred in the Colosseum is quite possibly the only reason why the Colosseum still exists today at all. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Colosseum stood abandoned and it used as effectively a stone quarry. When people needed building materials, they would just take stones from the Colosseum and reuse them, because it was much easier than quarrying new stones altogether. This is the main reason why so much of the building is now gone; people took the stones and used them for other building projects.
During the Renaissance, many, many ancient Roman buildings and monuments were torn down to make space for new buildings. The idea was to clear out the old, crumbling buildings that were just sitting there taking up space and replace them with nice, new buildings that people would actually have uses for. Pope Clement X (served as pope 1670 – 1676), however, consecrated the Colosseum as a holy site, forbidding anyone from desecrating it. Later, Pope Benedict XIV (served as pope 1740 – 1758) forbade anyone from using the Colosseum as a quarry.
Thus, even though there is no evidence that early Christians were ever executed in the Colosseum, the belief that they were is one of the main reasons why the Colosseum still exists today. This is similar to how, the main reason why the famous Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius from the Capitoline Hill has survived is because people mistook it for a statue of Constantine I, the first Christian emperor, so they preserved it. If they had known it was only the pagan emperor Marcus Aurelius and not the great Christian emperor Constantine I, they probably would have melted it down for its metal, just like the over a hundred other equestrian statues of Roman emperors that once stood in the city of Rome.
