The blood sport of the gladiator games was interrupted one day when a Christian monk named Telemachus jumped into the ring and attempted to separate the fighters. It didn’t matter to him that the games didn’t typically end in death. The whole idea of watching real people, violently shed real blood for entertainment, was antithetical to the mind of Christ.
The spectators rose up in a fury and stoned him to death.
Supposedly, this event was part of the reason Emperor Honorius ended the games, turning Telemachus into a martyr and a saint.
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