As we’ve seen, capital punishment in the Roman period (e.g., death in the amphitheater) was a particularly brutal and gruesome death; however, it was also a source of entertainment.

As we’ve seen, capital punishment in the Roman period (e.g., death in the amphitheater) was a particularly brutal and gruesome death; however, it was also a source of entertainment. We read in The Acts of Paul and Thecla and in the excerpts from the letters of Ignatius (see our PowerPoint on martyrdom) that Christian martyrs went willingly into these deaths. What were their rationales for this? What did it have to do with Jesus?

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