Christians (Specifically) Were Not Fed to Lions in the Colosseum
For centuries, it was widely believed that early Christians had been slaughtered in droves in Rome’s Colosseum. Indeed, the image of Christian martyrs being fed to lions became – and remains – an art and cultural trope. So widely accepted was it, that it almost seems as if early Christians were the Colosseum’s big cats’ main diet. However, there is no historical evidence that Christians were ever fed to the lions in Rome’s deadly arena. To be sure, as seen above, Roman authorities had no problem with inflicting horrific punishments upon some Christians. Moreover, there actually were waves of official persecution against Christians. However, there are no contemporary accounts of Christians being fed to the lions.
Such tales were popularized by what came to be known as the Acts of the Martyrs, accounts of the sufferings of early Christians, compiled after Christianity became the Roman Empire’s official faith. While such accounts are historically dubious, they had a silver lining for which history owes them many thanks: they saved the Colosseum. In the centuries after the Western Roman Empire fell, Rome went into a steep decline. The Colosseum was among many buildings pilfered of marble and stone to reuse in local construction, until it became the shell we know today. Starting in the eighteenth century, however, various popes cited the supposed martyrdoms in the Colosseum to declare it a site sanctified by blood, in order to preserve what was left of it.
