How did Romans kill christians?

Answer 1

The Romans were a very talented, innovative and intelligent society that was responsible for all kinds of inventions (from central heating to democracy, from excellent road building to fast food!). However, they were also unbelievably cruel and regarded death in many ways a sport or entertainment.

There were many ways in which Christians were put to death. There are, of course, many records of crucifixion as the cruellest and most painful means of execution that was not only used for Christians but for any non-Roman who transgressed. Romans used it for Christians as a cruel parody of their Lord's own crucifixion thus introducing an element of mockery as well as a shameful and an agonising death.

In addition to this, many Christians were sent to the arena either to fight highly trained gladiators, or to fight wild animals such as lions. Obviously, the unarmed (or very lightly armed) Christians came off the worst and were killed and often partially eaten by the lions who were starved beforehand to make them more likely to attack. Spectacles like this were regarded as entertainment by the bloodthirsty Roman public.

There is also evidence that the Emperor Nero, as a special event for his birthday, ordered many hundreds of Christians to be covered in tar (pitch), crucified, and burned before they died, the pitch turning them into long-lasting human torches. They were then used to light up his palace gardens as outdoor lighting for his birthday party.

Finally, if a Christian was also a Roman citizen (such as the case of St Paul), he or she was frequently given mercy in the form of a swift death by beheading by sword. However, these 'mercy killings' were few and far between as they did not create such a macabre and gory spectacle and thus were not deened 'entertaining' by a bloodthirsty society such as the Romans were.

Answer 2

Christians were regarded as a cult just like the Jews in early Rome until they began to increase and adopted a unique attitude. There role was enhanced when they refused to present sacrifices to the Roman pagan gods. They also resisted the Roman teachings that contradicted Christianity. Since the Romans considered this attitude as a social revolt that could endanger the security and the unity of the empire. Thus, began the persecution of Christians. Roman emperors launched violent and organized persecutions against the Christan population all over the empire. The biggest recorded were in the reigns of Roman emperors Severus ( 193-211) Maximinus I (235-238) and Declus (249-252). They had created equipment made only to torture Christians. These included lashing, sloughing, stoning, ripping off organs, gouging out eyes. When dealing with Christians the Romans first tried to convince them to admit to Roman beliefs and when this didn't happen they began the torture. Religious books were also burnt, sacred scripts, and liturgies were destroyed as well as churches. This continued until Constantine and he made Christianity as the official religion of the empire.

Answer 3

1. Pushed them of cliffs and fed them to starving lions!

2. With a smile.

Answer 4

they abused there families