Bible & Christianity › Early church & the councils › Roman persecution of Christians
Early martyrs: Ignatius, Polycarp, Perpetua
Ignatius c. 110; Polycarp c. 155; Perpetua 203· Person· People
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Three famous Christians killed for refusing to renounce Christ, whose stories shaped how the church remembered persecution.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was taken under guard to Rome to face wild beasts, dying there around 107–110; on the way he wrote seven letters. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (İzmir), was executed around 155, saying 'Eighty-six years I have served him.' Perpetua, a young mother of Carthage, died in the arena in 203 with her enslaved companion Felicity. 'Martyr' is Greek for 'witness'; Tertullian wrote around 197 that Christians' blood is 'seed'.
Why it matters
Their courage became a powerful story for the young faith; martyrs' tombs became the first shrines, and the veneration of saints grew from them.
Life, legacy and sources
Unusually good sources: Ignatius's own letters, a letter from Polycarp's church written soon after his death, and Perpetua's prison diary, one of the earliest surviving writings by a Christian woman.
Questions and debates
Dates are debated: Polycarp died in 155, 156 or as late as 167, and a minority of scholars date Ignatius's letters decades later or doubt they are his.
Connections (2)
▸Early martyrs: Ignatius, Polycarp, Perpetua died in Roman persecution of ChristiansHistorical record
The connection
Each died in local action, not an empire-wide campaign. Trajan's rule (c. 112) was that Christians should not be hunted down, but if accused and they refused to sacrifice to the gods, they should be punished, often by death. Ignatius was condemned under Trajan, Polycarp after refusing to swear by the emperor, Perpetua under Septimius Severus.
When and where
Antioch and Rome (c. 107–110), Smyrna, now İzmir (c. 155), and Carthage, now in Tunisia (203).
Historical evidence
Pliny the Younger's letter to Trajan about Christians, and Trajan's reply, survive (Letters 10.96–97), alongside the martyrs' own letters and accounts.
Questions and debates
The legal basis is debated: was there a general law against Christians, as Tertullian implies, or only Trajan's case-by-case rule? A late claim that Severus banned conversion is widely doubted.
▸Early martyrs: Ignatius, Polycarp, Perpetua are echoed in the faith of Korean Catholic martyrsMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Like Ignatius, Polycarp and Perpetua, who refused to sacrifice to Rome's gods, Korean Catholics refused the state's Confucian ancestor rites and died rather than deny Christ. The Church honors both as martyr-saints, and Tertullian's line that 'the blood of Christians is seed' is often applied to Korea's fast-growing church.
When and where
Roman Empire, 2nd–3rd centuries; Joseon Korea, 1791–1871. The Catholic calendar joins them as martyr saints; Korea's 103 were canonized in 1984.
How do we know?
This is a parallel drawn by the Church and historians, not a documented direct influence; Korean believers' own writings speak of following Christ's cross.
Questions and debates
How well Korean believers knew the early martyr stories is uncertain; Chinese Catholic books they read may have told them, but evidence is thin.