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Public Executions In The Arena

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MARGARETA OF ANTIOCH TORTURED WITH IRON COMBS

Margareta was the daughter of a pagan priest at Antioch. She lost her mother in infancy and was placed in the care of a nurse in the country, who was a Christian, and whose first care was to have her little charge Baptized and to give the child a Christian education.

About this time Emperor Diocletian began to persecute the Christians. One day Alybrius, the prefect of the city, saw Margaret, and fell in love with her. He sent a messenger to ask her in marriage. The pious Virgin was filled with consternation at the proposal and replied to the messenger: "I can not be espoused to your master, because I am the spouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am promised to Him, and to Him I wish to belong." When the prefect heard this, he became furious with rage, and gave orders to have the Virgin brought to him by force.

When she appeared before him the prefect advised her to abandon the worship of a crucified God, but she refused. At this reproof the prefect became angry and ordered the tender Virgin to be cruelly scourged and placed on the rack. Then she was cast into prison.

Next day Margaret was again brought before the prefect. Margaret maintained her faith in Jesus. At this, the rage of Alybrius knew no bounds. He ordered to take her to the amphytheatre, where Margareta was torn with iron combs and lighted torches were applied to her body. On witnessing how she resisted to all these cruel tortures, a great number of spectators were converted to the Faith.

Finally the prefect ordered Margaret to be beheaded. Her glorious Martyrdom and death occurred about the year 275.
 

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MARGARETA OF ANTIOCH TORTURED WITH IRON COMBS

Margareta was the daughter of a pagan priest at Antioch. She lost her mother in infancy and was placed in the care of a nurse in the country, who was a Christian, and whose first care was to have her little charge Baptized and to give the child a Christian education.

About this time Emperor Diocletian began to persecute the Christians. One day Alybrius, the prefect of the city, saw Margaret, and fell in love with her. He sent a messenger to ask her in marriage. The pious Virgin was filled with consternation at the proposal and replied to the messenger: "I can not be espoused to your master, because I am the spouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am promised to Him, and to Him I wish to belong." When the prefect heard this, he became furious with rage, and gave orders to have the Virgin brought to him by force.

When she appeared before him the prefect advised her to abandon the worship of a crucified God, but she refused. At this reproof the prefect became angry and ordered the tender Virgin to be cruelly scourged and placed on the rack. Then she was cast into prison.

Next day Margaret was again brought before the prefect. Margaret maintained her faith in Jesus. At this, the rage of Alybrius knew no bounds. He ordered to take her to the amphytheatre, where Margareta was torn with iron combs and lighted torches were applied to her body. On witnessing how she resisted to all these cruel tortures, a great number of spectators were converted to the Faith.

Finally the prefect ordered Margaret to be beheaded. Her glorious Martyrdom and death occurred about the year 275.

She looks resigned in the old pic, she's desperately reluctant to play in the first one. Nice image.
 
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SLAVE ELEPHTERIA CRUCIFIED AND WHIPPED TO DEATH

Elephteria was a young beautiful slave living in the city of Buthrotum, in Epirus. Her Master, Marcus Sulpicius, fell in love with her. His wife, Calpurnia, daughter of the consul Caius Sallustius Crispus Passienus, was jealous and had decided to sell Elephteria to a slave merchant.

Sulpicius decided to kill her wife to be free from her jealousy. He gave Elephteria a small bottle containing a deadly poison and ordered her to pour some of it in Calpurnia’s food.

Calpurnia died two days later, after many hours of atrocious suffering. Sallustius immediately suspected she had been killed. His guards found the poison under Elephteria’s bed, and finally the two unfortunate lovers confessed their crime.

They were both condemned to death. Sallustius wanted to see them suffer, but Sulpicius was a Roman citizen, so she was beheaded in the forum.

Since Elephteria was a slave, she was led to the amphytheatre, undressed, nailed naked to a wooden cross and savagely scourged until she died.

This happened in 109 a.D.
 
DOMINICA OF TROPEA SCOURGED TO DEATH
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Dominica was a very young christian woman who was born in the region of Tropea (Calabria, Italy) as the daughter of Dorotheus and Arsenia.

The whole family was banished to Asia Minor because of their faith. Some year later (when Dominica was 18-19 years old) a group of Pagans arrested the woman and led her to the magistrate. She was asked to renounce to her faith, but she refused, so she was condemned to die in the arena.

Two day later the poor girl was brought to the amphytheatre, stripped naked, beaten and mocked by the crowd. The she was suspended and scourged to death.

This happened in 305 a.d., under the emperor Diocletian.
 

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It's rare we see a martyr who's 'lost it', scared shitless
and wishing she'd been a sensible girl and never got herself into this mess -
I'm sure it happened - and the crowd would have loved it!
 
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MARTINA OF ROME TORTURED WITH IRON COMBS

The daughter of an ex-consul and orphaned at an early age, Martina was described as a noble and beautiful virgin. She so openly testified to her Christian faith that she could not escape the persecutions under Alexander Severus. Arrested and commanded to return to idolatry, she refused, whereupon she was subjected to various tortures, which included being scourged, tormented with iron combs and burned with toorches. Martina was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts in the amphitheater but was miraculously untouched, so she was finally beheaded.
Her hagiography asserts that some of her executioners also converted to Christianity and were themselves beheaded.

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GLADIATRIX MEVIA CONDEMNED "AD BESTIAS"

Female gladiators rarely appear in Roman histories. When they do, they are "exotic markers of exceptionally lavish spectacle".
Romans seem to have found the idea of a female gladiator novel and entertaining, or downright absurd; Juvenal titillates his readers with a woman called Mevia, a beast hunter, hunting boars in the arena with "spear in hand and breasts exposed". Mevia was a slave of german origin, strong, blonde haired and with blue eyes. She was really attractive to men, who were delighted in seeing her fight against beasts.
Mevia was property of Flamma, the lanista, a fat very rich ex-gladiator. Flamma felt a very strong sexual attraction for Mevia, but she preferred to remain a virgin to honor her Gods.
One day Flamma was drunk and tried to have a sexual intercourse with the woman, but she was very strong and trained, so she defended herself and accidentally killed him.
Mevia was judged guilty of murder of a Roman citizen, so she had to die. The judges condemned her "ad bestias", to be killed by some of the wild beasts she had fought for for years.
Three days later, she was tied naked in the arena and left there with a big lion, who immediately attacked the woman and killed her in front of a huge cheering crowd.
 
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APOLLONIA OF ALEXANDRIA TORTURED WITH PLIERS AND IRON COMBS

Apollonia was a citizen of Alexandria (Egypt). Tradition describes her as a young woman. During a pogrom in 249 against the Christians in Alexandria the pagan rabble broke into her house and dragged her to the market place. In order to make her denounce her faith, the pagans cruelly tortured her, but she remained steadfast.
She was condemned to die. She was cruelly tortured in public with iron combs and pliers. Her teeth were pulled out and her jaw was broken. Then a fire was set under her and she was burned to death.

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THAMA PUBLICLY CRUCIFIED AS A FUGITIVE SLAVE


Thama was a young slave of Dacian origin living in Massilia (Gallia) under emperor Hadrian. She was property of Judocus, an old rich merchant. Thama was tired of being continuously abused by her master, so one day she left the house to go to the thermae and tried to reach the port and sail to Mauretania. She was captured just when the boat was leaving. Judocus decided she had to die and wanted to see her suffer, so the poor woman was crucified in the local amphytheatre.
 
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MAVRA OF ANTINOPOLIS CRUCIFIED AND TORTURED WITH IRON HOOKS

Mavra (or Maura) suffered for the faith during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). She was the young wife of a wise Christian man called Timoty, who lived in Antinopolis, a city of Upper Egypt.
Timothy was denounced as a keeper of Christian books, which the emperor ordered to be confiscated and burned. They brought Timothy before the governor Arian, who demanded that he hand over the sacred books. They subjected the saint to horrible tortures, but Timothy bravely endured the pain and he gave thanks to God, for granting him to suffer for Him.
About this time they informed Arian that Timothy had a young wife named Mavra, whom he had married only twenty days before. Arian ordered Maura to be brought, hoping that with her present, they could break Saint Timothy’s will. Saint Timothy urged his wife not to fear the tortures, but to follow his path. Maura answered, “I am prepared to die with you,” and she boldly confessed herself a Christian. Arian commanded that the they tortured the woman.
Mavra underwent the torment with joy and even thanked the governor for the torture, which she endured so that her sins might be forgiven.
Arian was overcome all the more by a satanic rage and he came up with new tortures. Finally, Arian ordered the martyr to be crucified and then tortured with iron hoks and fire. For ten days she hung on the cross. On the tenth day of martyrdom the woman offered up her soul to the Lord. This occurred in the year 286.
 

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JULIA OF CORSICA CRUCIFIED FOR REFUSING TO SACRIFICE TO PAGAN GODS

Julia was a Carthaginian girl who, after being captured from her city, was sold as a slave and came into the service of a man named Eusebius. When her own duties were done and she was granted the servant's time off, she spent her spare time either in reading or insisting on praying. She grew pale and thin from fasting despite the threats and blandishments of her master, but her mind, intent on Heaven, fed daily on God's words.

Eusebius, a citizen (civis) of Syria in Palestine, rowing hard for Gaul with an expensive cargo, anchored at Cap Corse for the night. From a distance he saw that sacrifices were about to be conducted by the pagans and immediately descended with all his people to attend. On that day they were slaying a bull "to their devils." The use of mercimonia for cargo identifies it as goods for sale, from which it is often inferred that Eusebius was a merchant. The bishop quips that he disagrees, that Eusebius left his precious cargo (Julia) in Corsica. The choice of a bull, Poseidon's animal, suggests that they had intruded on the yearly rites of the sacrum promontorium.

While they were celebrating by becoming intoxicated and Saint Julia was sighing deeply for their error it was announced to Felix by his satellites that there was a girl in the ship who derided the worship of the gods. This "son of the serpent" asked Eusebius, "Why did not all who are with you come down to worship our gods? I heard that there is a girl who derides the names of our gods." Eusebius replied "I was not successful in moving the girl from the superstition of the Christians nor was I able to bring her to our religion by threatening. If she were not necessary because of her most faithful service I would already have had her tortured."

Then Felix Saxo gave him some options: "Either compel her to give offerings to our gods, or give her to me in exchange for whichever four of my handmaidens please you, or for the price that was set for her." Eusebius replied: "If you wanted to give me all your property it would not come to the value of her service."

Who Felix Saxo was either to offer such options or to allow Eusebius to refuse them is not clear. Most likely he was a major, or "magistrate" among the sacrificers, a princeps or "chief man" who happened to be in charge of the place, perhaps Cap Corse. Ferrarius in his "Catalog of the Saints of Italy" calls him Felix Tribunus, which is in fact a full explanation. He had the tribunician power, which would have made him a high-level magistrate, perhaps even provincial governor.

Having gotten counsel Felix prepared the banquet, where Eusebius became intoxicated and fell into a deep sleep. Straightway "a raging mob of gentiles" boarded the ship and placed Julia on the shore. Felix said: "Sacrifice to the gods, girl. I will give your master as much as he likes and dissolve the bond of your state." The tribunician power included manumission. However, Julia replied: "My liberty is the service of Christ, whom I serve every day with a pure mind. As for that error of yours, I not only do not venerate it, I detest it."

The tribune ordered that she be struck blows to the face. That done, she said that as Christ was struck for her, why should she not be struck for him? Then Felix ordered that she be "tortured by the hair", later described as mollitia, "diminishment" of her hair. Then she was flogged, to which she replied in the same way, that if Christ was flogged and crowned with thorns for her, why should she not endure this diminishment of the hair, which she calls the vexillum fidei, the "flag of faith?" Felix, fearful of being indicted for cruelty, hurried the process along by ordering "the handmaiden of Christ" to be placed on the patibulum of a cross. Eusebius was awakened. As he let go the bonds of sleep, the woman. with mind released from the flesh, victress over suffering, took happy flight with the angels to the stars of heaven.

This happened in 439 A.D.

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CHRISTINA OF TYRE PIERCED WITH ARROWS


Christina was born into a rich family, and her father was governor of Tyre. By the age of 11 the girl was exceptionally beautiful, and many wanted to marry her. Christina's father, however, envisioned that his daughter should become a pagan priestess. To this end he placed her in a special dwelling where he had set up many gold and silver idols, and he commanded his daughter to burn incense before them. Two servants attended Christina.

According to accounts, one time Christina was visited by an angel, who instructed her in the true faith. The angel called her a bride of Christ and told her about her future suffering. Christina smashed all the idols in her room and threw them out the window. In visiting his daughter, Christina's father, Urbanus, asked her where all the idols had disappeared. Christina was silent. Then, having summoned the servants, Urbanus learned the truth from them.

Urbanus had his daughter tortured because of her faith. Finally he had her taken to the circus of his town, where his soldiers first cut the girl's tongue off and then shot her with arrows.

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GLYCERIA OF HERACLEA GIVEN TO WILD BEASTS

Glyceria suffered as a martyr for her faith in Christ in the second century, during a persecution against Christians under the emperor Antoninus (138-161). She came from an illustrious family, and her father Macarius was a high-ranking Roman official. Later, the family moved to the Thracian city of Trajanopolis.

Glyceria lost both her father and mother at an early age. Falling in with Christians, she converted to the Christian Faith, and she visited the church every day. Sabinus, the prefect of Trajanopolis, received the imperial edict ordering Christians to offer sacrifice to the idols, and so he designated a certain day for the inhabitants of the city to worship the idol Zeus.

Saint Glyceria firmly resolved to suffer for Christ. On the appointed day she made the Sign of the Cross on her forehead, and went into the pagan temple.

She saint stood on a raised spot in the rays of the sun, and removed the veil from her head, showing the holy Cross traced on her forehead.

They locked Glyceria in prison, where the Christian priest Philokrates came to her and encouraged the martyr in the struggle before her. In the morning, when the tortures had started, suddenly an angel appeared in the midst of the torturers, and they fell to the ground, overcome with terror. When the vision vanished, Sabinus, who was hardly able to speak, ordered them to throw the saint into prison.

Glyceria was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts. She went to execution with great joy, but the lioness set loose upon the saint meekly crawled up to her and lay at her feet.

Finally, the woman prayed to the Lord, imploring that He take her unto Himself. In answer she heard a Voice from Heaven, summoning her to heavenly bliss. At that moment, a panther was set loose upon the saint. It pounced upon the martyr and killed her.
 

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