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It’s commonly known that early Christians were prosecuted for centuries in the Roman empire, up to execution via damnatio ad bestias, meaning they were made to fight lions and other beasts in deadly competitions.

However, there’s an article on the Friendly Atheist blog which, echoing a Cracked article, claims that

There are zero authentic accounts of Christian martyrdom in the Colosseum until over a century after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. In fact, not a single legitimate record exists of the Romans executing any Christians in the Colosseum. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Now, the Friendly Atheist articles are generally well researched and thus believable, but this one is less so. For one thing, most of its references are to entirely unspecific (or not accessible) “Google Books” searches that prove nothing.

Furthermore, the claim that there are no legitimate records is directly contradicted by the Wikipedia article above, which cites several references by contemporaries, such as Tacitus and Tertullian. Another article claims that the persecution lasted three centuries and was witnessed by several historians.

All this directly contradicts the claim that “there are zero authentic accounts … until over a century after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire”, because that happened after the three centuries of persecution. It also contradicts a quote taken from The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom (by Candida Moss, published in 2013):

… the prosecution of Christians was rare, and the persecution of Christians was limited to no more than a handful of years.

Konrad Rudolph
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    The article says "There are zero authentic accounts of Christian martyrdom **in the Colosseum**". The author is picking one specific building (in an empire that spanned most of a continent) and trying to make a lot of there being no records of executions in that location. It doesn't mean there were no executions at all. – DJClayworth Jul 10 '13 at 18:15
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    What would make an account "authentic", or records "legitimate"? –  Jul 10 '13 at 18:18
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    @DJClayworth Even that’s wrong, some of the (admittedly, Christian) historians mention the Colosseum. As to what makes an account authentic, my guess is good as yours. Simply discarding them because they are from Christians is intellectually dishonest, however. There needs to be specific evidence to justify that. – Konrad Rudolph Jul 10 '13 at 18:20
  • @KonradRudolph were these historians talking about **a** colosseum - a large, Roman-style arena, or specifically about **the** Colosseum, the large arena in Rome? I grew up in evangelical Christian culture (I've escaped, fortunately) and I always had the impression that colosseum was just a synonym for "a public place or arena where the public gathers" – MattDMo Jul 10 '13 at 20:20
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    @MattDMo The Colosseum (note capital “C”) is the building in Rome. That’s what’s referred to here. I haven’t heard it used in a generic way but it wouldn’t terribly surprise me if that usage existed. – Konrad Rudolph Jul 10 '13 at 21:03
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    @MattDMo The generic term is "amphitheatre". – ChrisW Jul 10 '13 at 21:33
  • @KonradRudolph Are you asking whether they were executed: a) `In the Colosseum at Rome?` or b) `Anywhere in Rome the city?` or c) `In any amphitheatre in the Roman Empire?` or d) `Anywhere in the Roman Empire?` @Sancho There were accounts written by both Christian and Roman historians. – ChrisW Jul 10 '13 at 23:17
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    Reading the Cracked article will make it clear that he is referring to The Colosseum, the building in Rome, not colosseums in general: "But how do we know not one lion picked his teeth with the bones of a faithful believer in the Colosseum? Because back when Emperor Nero was busily persecuting early Christians as arsonists, the Colosseum hadn't even been built yet." The original article freely admits that Christians were persecuted. – DJClayworth Jul 11 '13 at 03:24
  • OP is not asking about persecution, he's asking about **public** executions. A relevant question could be "*Were there ever public executions in the Roman Empire besides death in the Colosseum?*". – Aeronth Jul 11 '13 at 07:34
  • @Aeronth Larry O'Brien's answer to this question describes some examples of public execution outside the Colosseum. – DJClayworth Jul 11 '13 at 21:08
  • "As to what makes an account authentic" - if you have any questions about that, there's an app... errr.. [StackExchange site for that](http://history.stackexchange.com/). @Konrad - I would strongly recommend that you migrate your own question there as you're more likely to get fully documented expert answer. – user5341 Jul 12 '13 at 18:51
  • @Aeronth - the Romans employed crucifixions for many years before The Colosseum was constructed. You can't really have a crucifixion without it being "public". – warren Jul 12 '13 at 19:04
  • See also Pliny's discussion of prosecuting Christians: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/pliny.html – Francis Davey Nov 23 '14 at 15:48

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I think the "...in the Colosseum" part is crucial to the claim.

Tacitus' description of Nero's persecution of Christians says:

And perishing [Christians] were additionally made into sports: they were killed by dogs by having the hides of beasts attached to them, or they were nailed to crosses or set aflame, and, when the daylight passed away, they were used as nighttime lamps. Nero gave his own gardens for this spectacle....

Nero's gardens were not part of the Colosseum. (There's some controversy about Tacitus' accuracy, but I think the quote speaks to the "...in the Colosseum" aspect.)

Larry OBrien
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  • Well, yeah, but that was *Nero*. Didn't he also set fire to half of Rome to make room for a personal ego construction project? – Shadur Jul 24 '13 at 09:24
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    @Shadur Probably not. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome) – Karlth Aug 09 '13 at 09:45
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    Tacitus was well-known for his hatred of emperors in general, with Nero his special hate. Take anything Tacitus says about Nero with a grain of salt. – Dick Harfield Apr 27 '15 at 22:25
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    @DickHarfield -- possibly, but it certainly answers the OP's point: people were claiming (accurately or otherwise) as early as 100 AD that Christians were martyred. – Michael Lorton Jul 31 '16 at 07:42