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Diocletianic Persecution

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Diocletianic Persecution

The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (Jews were exempt). The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors (Galerius with the Edict of Serdica in 311) at different times, but Constantine and Licinius' Edict of Milan in 313 has traditionally marked the end of the persecution. Christians had been subject to intermittent local discrimination in the empire, but emperors prior to Diocletian were reluctant to issue general laws against the religious group. In the 250s, under the reigns of Decius and Valerian, Roman subjects including Christians were compelled to sacrifice to Roman gods or face imprisonment and execution, but there is no evidence that these edicts were specifically intended to attack Christianity. After Gallienus's accession in 260, these laws went into abeyance. Diocletian's assumption of power in 284 did not mark an immediate reversal of imperial inattention to Christianity, but it did herald a gradual shift in official attitudes toward religious minorities. In the first fifteen years of his rule, Diocletian purged the army of Christians, condemned Manicheans to death, and surrounded himself with public opponents of Christianity. Diocletian's preference for activist government, combined with his self-image as a restorer of past Roman glory, foreboded the most pervasive persecution in Roman history. In the winter of 302, Galerius urged Diocletian to begin a general persecution of the Christians. Diocletian was wary and asked the oracle at Didyma for guidance. The oracle's reply was read as an endorsement of Galerius's position, and a general persecution was called on 23 February 303. Persecutory policies varied in intensity across the empire. Whereas Galerius and Diocletian were avid persecutors, Constantius was unenthusiastic. Later persecutory edicts, including the calls for universal sacrifice, were not applied in his domain. His son, Constantine, on taking the imperial office in 306, restored Christians to full legal equality and returned property that had been confiscated during the persecution. In Italy in 306, the usurper Maxentius ousted Maximian's successor Severus, promising full religious toleration. Galerius ended the persecution in the East in 311, but it was resumed in Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor by his successor, Maximinus. Constantine and Licinius, Severus's successor, signed the Edict of Milan in 313, which offered a more comprehensive acceptance of Christianity than Galerius's edict had provided. Licinius ousted Maximinus in 313, bringing an end to persecution in the East. The persecution failed to check the rise of the Church. By 324, Constantine was sole ruler of the empire, and Christianity had become his favored religion. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, most of the empire's Christians avoided punishment. The persecution did, however, cause many churches to split between those who had complied with imperial authority (the traditores), and those who had remained "pure". Certain schisms, like those of the Donatists in North Africa and the Melitians in Egypt, persisted long after the persecutions. The Donatists would not be reconciled to the Church until after 411. Some historians consider that, in the centuries that followed the persecutory era, Christians created a "cult of the martyrs" and exaggerated the barbarity of the persecutions. Other historians using texts and archeological evidence from the period assert that this position is in error. Christian accounts were criticized during the Enlightenment and afterwards, most notably by Edward Gibbon. This can be attributed to the political anticlerical and secular tenor of that period. Modern historians, such as G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, have attempted to determine whether Christian sources exaggerated the scope of the Diocletianic persecution, but disagreements continue.

Tables

Known martyrdoms in the East (Dubious) · Regional variation
Diocletian's provinces (303–305)
Diocletian's provinces (303–305)
Col 1
Diocletian's provinces (303–305)
Asia Minor
26
Oriens
31
Galerius's provinces (303–305)
Galerius's provinces (303–305)
Col 1
Galerius's provinces (303–305)
Danube
14
Galerius's provinces (undatable)
Galerius's provinces (undatable)
Col 1
Galerius's provinces (undatable)
Danube
8
Galerius's provinces (305–311)
Galerius's provinces (305–311)
Col 1
Galerius's provinces (305–311)
Asia Minor
12
Danube
12
After Davies, pp. 68–69.
After Davies, pp. 68–69.
Col 1
After Davies, pp. 68–69.
Asia Minor
Oriens
Danube
Diocletian's provinces (303–305)
26
31
Galerius's provinces (303–305)
14
Galerius's provinces (undatable)
8
Galerius's provinces (305–311)
12
12
After Davies, pp. 68–69.

References

  1. Early pagan opponents of the Christians would see their God as a political criminal, executed under a governor of Judea
  2. Clarke argues that other evidence (Cyprian, Epistolae 75.10.1f; Origen Contra Celsus 3.15) undermines Eusebius's picture
  3. Although some members of the laity were persecuted, the primary targets of official action were always the clergy and th
  4. The Palestinian Talmud records that when Diocletian paid a visit to the region, he decreed that "sacrifices should be of
  5. The edict illegalized sibling marriage, which had long been customary in the East.
  6. Hopkins assumes a constant growth rate of 3.35% per annum. Hopkins' study is cited at Potter, 314. The historian Robin L
  7. Clarke argues against reading a large advancement in either the numbers or the social status of Christians into this dat
  8. Clarke cautions, however, that this shift in attitudes may simply be an artifact of the source material.
  9. Aurelius Victor describes the circle around Diocletian as an imminentium scrutator; Lactantius describes it as a scrutat
  10. Later dates are possible, but discouraged by the statement in the Suda (written in the 10th century) that Porphyry only
  11. Helgeland places the event in 301. Barnes argued for a date of 302 or "not long before" in 1976, but accepted a date of
  12. Davies disputes Barnes' identification of Constantine's unnamed emperor (Oratio ad Coetum Sanctum 22) with Galerius.
  13. Barnes argues that Diocletian was prepared to tolerate Christianity—he did, after all, live within sight of Nicomedia's
  14. The edict might not actually have been an "edict" in the technical sense; Eusebius does not refer to it as such, and the
  15. This apparently included any house in which scriptures were found.
  16. Gaddis writes that the quotation may be a slur on Galerius's trans-Danubian ancestry.
  17. The document is not actually an edict, but a letter. The two can be distinguished by the presence of a specific addresse
  18. These figures count only the total number of martyrdoms, not the number of individuals martyred. Davies takes his figure
  19. S. Lieberman located this event at Lydda (Lod, Israel). Barnes contests this identification, arguing that since Eusebius
  20. Gaddis, 29.
  21. The Early Christian World, Vol.2
  22. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 503.
  23. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 511; de Ste-Croix, "Persecuted?", 15–16.
  24. Dodds, 111.
  25. MacMullen, 35.
  26. Dodds, 110.
  27. Schott, Making of Religion, 2, citing Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 1.2.1.
  28. Schott, Making of Religion, 1.
  29. Dodds, 115–16, citing Justin, Apologia 2.2; Tertullian, Apologia 3.
  30. Castelli, 38; Gaddis, 30–31.
  31. de Ste-Croix, "Persecuted?", 16–17.
  32. Tacitus, Annales 15.44.6, cited in Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 504; Dodds, 110.
    https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0077%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D44
  33. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 504, citing Suetonius, Nero 16.2.
  34. Dodds, 111–12, 112 n.1; de Ste-Croix, "Persecuted?", 20.
  35. Clarke, 616; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 510. See also: Barnes, "Legislation"; de Sainte-Croix, "Persecuted?"; Musurill
  36. Drake, Bishops, 87–93; Edwards, 579; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 506–8, citing Pliny, Epistaules 10.96.
  37. Martyrium Polycarpi (= Musurillo, 2–21) and Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 4.15; Frend, 509 (Smyrna); Martyrium Scilli
  38. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 5.1 (= Musurillo, 62–85); Edwards, 587; Frend, 508.
  39. G. W. Clarke, "The origins and spread of Christianity," in Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 10, The Augustan Empire, ed.
  40. Clarke, 616; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 510; de Ste-Croix, "Persecuted?", 7.
  41. Robin Lane Fox, The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome (Toronto: Penguin, 2006), 576.
  42. Castelli, 38.
  43. Drake, Bishops, 113–14; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 511.
  44. Origen, Contra Celsum 3.9, qtd. and tr. in Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 512.
  45. Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Septimius Severus, 17.1; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 511. Timothy Barnes, at Tertullian:
  46. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 6.28, cited in Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 513.
  47. Clarke, 621–25.
  48. Clarke, 625–27; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 513; Rives, 135.
  49. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 6.39.4; Clarke, 632, 634; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 514.
  50. E. Leigh Gibson, "Jewish Antagonism or Christian Polemic: The Case of the Martyrdom of Pionius," Journal of Early Christ
  51. Dodds, 108, 108 n.2.
  52. Joseph Wilson Trigg, Origen (New York: Routledge, 1998), 61.
  53. Clarke, 635; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 514.
  54. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 514, citing Cyprian, De lapsis 8.
  55. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 514, citing Martyrium Pionii 15 (= Musurillo, 156–57).
  56. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 514.
  57. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 7.10.3, qtd. and tr. in Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 515.
  58. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 516.
  59. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 7.15; Digeser, Christian Empire, 52; Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 517.
  60. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 517.
  61. Williams, 161.
  62. Williams, 161–62.
  63. Panegyrici Latini 11(3)6, qtd. and tr. Williams, 162.
  64. Bowman, "Diocletian", 70–71; Corcoran, "Before Constantine", 40; Liebeschuetz, 235–52, 240–43; Odahl, 43–44; Williams, 5
  65. Curran, 47; Williams, 58–59.
  66. Frend, "Prelude", 4.
  67. Curran, 47.
  68. Potter, 296, citing Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 617, 641, 618; Frend, "Prelude", 3; Lane Fox, 593. See also Millar, 1
  69. Potter, 336.
  70. Potter, 333.
  71. Curran, 48.
  72. Clarke, 627.
  73. Palestinian Talmud, Aboda Zara 5.4, qtd. and tr. in Curran, 48. See also: Dodd, 111.
  74. Lane Fox, 430.
  75. Martin Goodman, Rome and Jerusalem (New York: Allen Lane, 2007), 499–505.
  76. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 19, 295 n.50; New Empire, 62 n.76.
  77. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 295 n.50.
  78. Mosiacarum et Romanarum Legum Collatio 6.4, qtd. and tr. in Clarke, 649; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 19–20.
  79. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 20. See also: Lane Fox, 594.
  80. Davies, 93.
  81. Hopkins, 191.
  82. Lane Fox, 590–92. See also: Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (Princeton: Prince
  83. Frend, "Prelude", 2.
  84. Keresztes, 379; Lane Fox, 587; Potter, 314.
  85. Keresztes, 379; Potter, 314.
  86. Keresztes, 379.
  87. Clarke, 615.
  88. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21.
  89. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.6.2–4, 8.9.7, 8.11.2, cited in Keresztes, 379; Potter, 337, 661 n.16.
  90. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 15.2, cited in Keresztes, 379; Potter, 337, 661 n.16.
  91. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21; Clarke, 621–22.
  92. Clarke, 621–22.
  93. de Ste-Croix, "Persecuted?", 21.
  94. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21–22.
  95. Dodds, 109.
  96. Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones 5.2.12–13; Digeser, Christian Empire, 5.
  97. Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones 5.2.3; Frend, "Prelude", 13.
  98. Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones 5.2.3ff; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 22.
  99. Aurelius Victor, Caes. 39.48, cited in Keresztes, 381.
  100. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 10.1, cited in Keresztes, 381.
  101. Augustine, De Citivae Dei 10.29, qtd. and tr. in Frend, "Prelude", 9.
  102. Frend, "Prelude", 10.
  103. Suda, π,2098, qtd. and tr. Frend, "Prelude", 10 n.64. See also: Barnes, "Porphyry's Against the Christians"; Croke; and
    http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?db=REAL&search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&user_list=LIST&page_num=1&searchstr=pi%2C2098+&field=adlerhw_gr&num_per_page=100
  104. Frend, "Prelude", 10–11.
  105. Porphyry frg. 58; Frend, "Prelude", 12.
  106. Porphyry frg. 49; Frend, "Prelude", 12.
  107. Porphyry frg. 60, 63; Frend, "Prelude", 12.
  108. Porphyry frg. 1, tr. Digeser, Christian Empire, 6; Frend, "Prelude", 13 n.89.
  109. Davies, 92.
  110. Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, 1.24, qtd. in Davies, 79–80, from a translation by Bryce and Campbell.
  111. Walter, 111
  112. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 10.1–5; Barnes, "Sossianus Hierocles", 245; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 18–19
    http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.iii.v.x.html
  113. Helgeland, 159.
  114. Barnes, "Sossianus Hierocles", 245.
  115. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 18–19.
  116. Woods, "Two Notes", 128–31.
  117. Keresztes, 380.
  118. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.4.2–3; Barnes, "Sossianus Hierocles", 246; Helgeland, 159.
  119. Davies, 89–92.
  120. Woods, "'Veturius'", 588.
  121. Woods, "'Veturius'", 589.
  122. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 10.6, 31.1 and Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8, app. 1, 3; Barnes, Constantine a
  123. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 19, 294.
  124. Davies, 82–83.
  125. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 20; Corcoran, "Before Constantine", 51; Odahl, 54–56, 62.
  126. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 19–21.
  127. Davies, 66–94.
  128. Jones, 71; Liebeschuetz, 235–52, 246–48. Contra: Davies, 66–94.
  129. Odahl, 65.
  130. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 9.9–10; Odahl, 303 n.24.
  131. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 11.1–2; Odahl, 66.
  132. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 19.
  133. Corcoran, Empire, 261; Keresztes, 381.
  134. Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu, eds., Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  135. Clarke, 647–48.
  136. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 20–21.
  137. Lane Fox, 595.
  138. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 10.6–11; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21; Odahl, 67.
  139. Schott, "Porphyry on Christians", 278; Beatrice, 1–47; Digeser, Christian Empire, passim.
  140. Eusebius, Vita Constantini 2.50. Davies (80 n.75) believes that this should be re-written as "the profane on earth".
  141. The reply was translated as it was impossible for (the oracle) to speak the truth because of the righteous men upon the
    https://archive.org/details/persecutiondioc01masogoog
  142. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21; Elliott, 35–36; Keresztes, 381; Lane Fox, 595; Liebeschuetz, 235–52, 246–48; Odahl
  143. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 22; Clarke, 650; Odahl, 67–69; Potter, 337.
  144. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum, 12.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21; Gaddis, 29; Keresztes, 381.
  145. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 22; Clarke, 650; Potter, 337; de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 75; Williams, 176.
  146. The Old Latin pre-Vulgate version is given here, from Corcoran, Empire, 179–80.
  147. Corcoran, Empire, 180.
  148. Corcoran, Empire, 179.
  149. Curran, 49.
  150. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.10.8; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 22; De Ste Croix, "Aspects", 75; Liebeschuetz
  151. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.2.4; De Martyribus Palestinae praef. 1; and Optatus, Appendix 2; Barnes, Constantine
  152. de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 75.
  153. de Ste Croix, "Christian Persecution", 47.
  154. Greenslade, 476–477.
  155. The Early Church at Work and Worship
  156. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 23; Klingshirn, 169.
  157. Clarke, 650–51; Potter, 337; de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 75–76.
  158. Clarke, 650; de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 75–76.
  159. Clarke, 650–51; Potter, 337.
  160. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 11.8, qtd. in Clarke, 651; Keresztes, 381.
  161. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 11.8, cited in Keresztes, 381.
  162. Clarke, 651.
  163. Keresztes, 381.
  164. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 13.2 and Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.5.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius,
  165. Gaddis, 30 n.4.
  166. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.2.4; De Martyribus Palestinae praef.; and Acta Felicis (= Musurillo, 266–71); Corcora
  167. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 1.1–2, cited in Corcoran, Empire, 180.
  168. Optatus, Appendix 1; Corcoran, Empire, 180.
  169. de Ste Croix, "Christian Persecution", 55.
  170. Corcoran, Empire, 181.
  171. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.2.5; 8.6.8–9 and De Martyribus Palestinae praef. 2; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius,
  172. Rees, 63.
  173. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.6.8–9; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24; de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 76.
  174. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.6.10; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24; Corcoran, Empire, 181–82; de Ste Croix, "
  175. Rees, 64.
  176. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24, citing Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae (S), praef. 2; (S) 1.3–4; (L) 1.5b; and
  177. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 3.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24; Liebeschuetz, 249–50; de Ste Croix, "Aspec
  178. Baynes, "Two Notes", 189; de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 77.
  179. de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 77.
  180. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24, citing Martyrion ton hagion Agapes, Eirenes kai Chiones.
  181. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 3.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24.
  182. Liebeschuetz, 250–51.
  183. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 26–27; Odahl, 72–74; Southern, 152–53.
  184. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 18; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 25–26; Odahl, 71.
  185. Keresztes, 384.
  186. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.3.1, qtd. in Clarke, 655.
  187. Clarke, 655.
  188. Eusebius De Martyribus Palaestinae 4.8, 9.2; Keresztes, 384.
  189. Clarke, 655, citing Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.14.9ff.
  190. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 24.9 and Divinae Institutiones 1.1.13; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 28.
  191. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 28.
  192. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 30, 38.
  193. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 30–31.
  194. Clarke, 656; Corcoran, Empire, 186.
  195. Clarke, 656.
  196. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 33.11–35 and Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.17.1–11; Corcoran, Empire, 186.
  197. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.1.1; Corcoran, Empire, 186, 186 n.68.
  198. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 34.1–5, qtd. and tr. in Potter, 355–56. See Clarke, 656–57, for a translation from
  199. Potter, 356.
  200. Clarke, 657.
  201. Knipfing, 705, cited in Keresztes, 390.
  202. Knipfing, 705; K. Bihlmeyer, "Das Toleranzedikt des Galerius von 311", Theol. Quartalschr. 94 (1912) 412; and J. Vogt, "
  203. Keresztes, 390.
  204. Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers siècles (Paris,
  205. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 39.
  206. Clarke, 657; Potter, 356.
  207. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.2.1; Clarke, 659.
  208. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 149.
  209. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 45.1, 48.2, qtd. and tr. in Clarke, 662–63.
  210. Corcoran, Empire, 158–59.
  211. Corcoran, Empire, 2.
  212. Davies, 68 n.6.
  213. Davies, 68 n.7.
  214. Davies, 69 n.8.
  215. Davies, 69 n.9.
  216. Davies, 69 n.10.
  217. Davies, 69 n.11.
  218. Davies, 68.
  219. Clarke, 651; Keresztes, 384–85.
  220. Corcoran, "Before Constantine", 45–46; Williams, 67.
  221. Lane Fox, 596; Williams, 180.
  222. Davies, 68–69.
  223. Corcoran, Empire, 261 n.58.
  224. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 15.7; Clarke, 651.
  225. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.13.13; Vita Constantini 1.13; and De Martyribus Palestinae 13.12; Clarke, 651, 651 n.
  226. Optatus, 1.22; Clarke, 651 n.149.
  227. Corcoran, Empire, 180, citing Charles Thomas, Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500 (London: Batsford, 1981), 48–50.
  228. Corcoran, Empire, 181–82.
  229. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 24.9; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 28; Clarke, 652.
  230. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 23; Clarke, 651.
  231. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 23.
  232. Williams, 177.
  233. Frend, "Genesis and Legacy", 510.
  234. Martyrium Perpetuae et Felicitatis 13.1 (= Musurillo, 106–31), cited in Tilley, "North Africa", 391.
  235. Edwards, 585; Tilley, "North Africa", 387, 395; Williams, 179.
  236. Williams, 179.
  237. Acta Maximiliani (= Musurillo, 244–49); Tilley, The Bible, 45–46.
  238. Acta Marcelli (= Musurillo, 250–59); Tilley, The Bible, 46.
  239. Optatus, Appendix 1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 23.
  240. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 23.
  241. Tilley, Martyr Stories, 25–49; Clarke, 652 n.153.
  242. Clarke, 652 n.153.
  243. Clarke, 652 n.153.
  244. Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs 20 (= Tilley, Martyr Stories, 44–46); Tilley, Martyr Stories, xi; The Bible, 9, 57–66.
  245. Tilley, The Bible, 10.
  246. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 56.
  247. Tilley, Martyr Stories, xi.
  248. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, VII, 32
  249. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38; Curran, 49.
  250. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38, 303 n.100; Curran, 49.
  251. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38, 304 n.106.
  252. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38, 303–4 n.105.
  253. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 13.12, qtd. in Clarke, 652.
  254. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 23.5; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 29.
  255. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38, 304 n.107.
  256. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38.
  257. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38–39.
  258. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 10.5.15–17; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 39.
  259. Clarke, 651, 651 n.151.
  260. Santiebeati.it
    http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91149
  261. Martyrologia Hieronomianum, ed. De Rossi; Duchesne in Acta SS., Nov. II, cited in St. Chrysogonus from the Catholic Ency
    http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03742b.htm
  262. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 42–44; Odahl, 111. Cf. also Curran, 72–75.
  263. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 48. Cf. contra: MacMullen, 45.
  264. Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.42.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 48.
  265. Curran, 93–96, citing Krautheimer, Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romanorum, 5.90.
  266. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 48–49.
  267. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24.
  268. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24; Lane Fox, 596; Williams, 178. See also: Keresztes, 382.
  269. Williams, 178.
  270. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 24; Southern, 168; Williams, 177.
  271. Odahl, 68.
  272. Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones 7; Williams, 178.
  273. Trompf, 120.
  274. Williams, 181.
  275. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 148–50.
  276. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 154–55.
  277. Keresztes, 389.
  278. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.6.10, qtd. and tr. in Keresztes, 389.
  279. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 150.
  280. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae (L) 1.1ff; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 150–51.
  281. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae (L) 1.5; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 151.
  282. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 3.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 151, 356 n.27.
  283. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 151.
  284. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 19.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 151.
  285. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 4.8; Keresztes, 384.
  286. de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 97, 113; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153.
  287. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 23.1ff; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 151–52.
  288. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 4.8; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 152; Keresztes, 384; Mitchell, 112.
  289. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 7.1–4; Keresztes, 388. On Christian condemnation to the mines in general, see J.G. Da
  290. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 8.1–4; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153; Keresztes, 388.
  291. Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves 7 (1939–44), 410ff.
  292. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 357 n.39.
  293. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 8.13; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153; Keresztes, 388.
  294. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 7.1f, cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 152.
  295. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.13.5; De Martyribus Palestinae 7.3ff; 13; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 152–53; K
  296. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 7.7; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153.
  297. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae (L) 8.1; (S) 11.31; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153.
  298. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 9.1, cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153.
  299. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153, 357 n.42.
  300. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153.
  301. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 9.2; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153; Keresztes, 384; Mitchell, 112.
  302. Lane Fox, 596.
  303. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 9.2; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 153; Keresztes, 384; Lane Fox, 596; Mitchell,
  304. Lane Fox, 596. On the Acts of Pilate, see also: Johannes Quasten, Patrology, volume I: The Beginnings of Patristic Liter
  305. Lane Fox, 596–97.
  306. Mitchell, 112.
  307. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 154.
  308. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 10.1ff, cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 154.
  309. Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 11.1ff; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 154.
  310. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 154, 357 n.49.
  311. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 357 n.49.
  312. Mitchell, 113.
  313. Clarke, 660; Mitchell, 113.
  314. Barnes, New Empire, 22–23; Michell, 113 n.21.
  315. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.1.1; Mitchell, 113.
  316. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.1.2, 9.1.3–6; Mitchell, 113.
  317. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.2.1; Clarke, 660; Mitchell, 114.
  318. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.2 and Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 36.3; Mitchell, 114.
  319. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.6.2; Clarke, 660.
  320. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.6.3; Clarke, 660.
  321. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 36.7, qtd. and tr. in Clarke, 660.
  322. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.7.3–14, cited in Mitchell, 114.
  323. Mitchell, 114.
  324. Mitchell, 117.
  325. Lane Fox, 598.
  326. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.9a.4–9; Mitchell, 114.
  327. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.9a.2–3; Mitchell, 114.
  328. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.9a.4; Mitchell, 114.
  329. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.9a.5–6; Mitchell, 114.
  330. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.9a.7–9; Mitchell, 114–15.
  331. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.10.1–2 and Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 37.3–42; Mitchell, 115.
  332. Barnes, New Empire, 68; Mitchell, 115.
  333. Mitchell, 115.
  334. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.10.8–9; Mitchell, 115.
  335. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 9.10.10–11; Mitchell, 115.
  336. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 46.8–9; Mitchell, 115.
  337. Mitchell, 116.
  338. Keresztes, 389. On the Egyptian response to the persecutions, see also: Annemarie Luijendijk, "Papyri from the Great Per
  339. Timothy Barnes, Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Un
  340. Leadbetter, 259.
  341. Epiphanius, Panarion 68.3.3, qtd. and tr. in MacMullen, 92–93.
  342. MacMullen, 160 n.17.
  343. Lane Fox, 590.
  344. Clarke, 651; Lane Fox, 597–98.
  345. Lane Fox, 597–98.
  346. Oxyrhynchus Papyri 2601, tr. J.R. Rhea, quoted in Barnes, "Constantine and the Bishops", 382; Lane Fox, 598.
  347. Eusebius, Vita Constantini 11.2, qtd. and tr. Nicholson, 50.
  348. Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones 4.18.1–2, qtd. and tr. Nicholson, 49.
  349. King James Version, qtd. in Nicholson, 51.
  350. Nicholson, 50–51.
  351. Drake, 149–53; Lane Fox, 598–601.
  352. Constantine, Oratio ad Sanctum Coetum 22, qtd. and tr. in Drake, 150.
  353. Drake, 98–103.
  354. Lane Fox, 441; MacMullen, 29–30
  355. Lane Fox, 441.
  356. Dodds, 135.
  357. Tertullian, Apologeticus 50; Dodds, 133; MacMullen, 29–30.
  358. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 48–49, 208–13.
  359. Liebeschuetz, 252.
  360. Iole Fargnoli, "Many Faiths and One Emperor: Remarks about the Religious Legislation of Theodosius the Great," Revue int
  361. Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 122. See als
  362. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 56; Tilley, Martyr Stories, xi.
  363. Chadwick, 179.
  364. Richard Gerberding, "The later Roman Empire," in The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 1, c.500–c.700, ed. Paul Foura
  365. Curran, 50.
  366. Liber Pontificalis 1.162; Curran, 50.
  367. Barnes, New Empire, 177–80; Curran, 50.
  368. de Ste Croix, "Aspects", 103–4.
  369. David Womersley, The Transformation of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (New York: Cambridge University Press,
  370. Womersley, Transformation, 128.
  371. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1839), 1:327.
  372. J. G. A. Pocock, Barbarism and Religion, vol. 5, Religion: The First Triumph (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 201
  373. Porson, Letters to Mr. Archdeacon Travis (1790), xxviii, qtd. in Womersley, Gibbon and the 'Watchmen of the Holy City':
  374. de Ste. Croix, "Aspects", 104.
  375. Hermann Dörries, Constantine the Great, trans. R.H. Bainton (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), 13 n. 11.
  376. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution, 393–94; Liebeschuetz, 251–52.
  377. Shin, The Great Persecution, 227.
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