Six Horrible Deaths of Early Christian Martyrs

Were the persecutors or the writers more imaginative?

The death of St. Antipas as depicted in an 1886 edition of The Bloody Theatre (Gutenberg.org)

Christianity saw plenty of martyrs in its first several centuries. By definition, a martyr is someone who suffers death rather than denies his faith. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, “Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even…