We’ve all heard the stories about the blood-thirsty Romans holding huge sporting events where poor defenseless Christians were throw to the hungry lions. The stories are somewhat true but the Romans did not reserve this spectacle for Christians only.

It seems that the Romans, a polytheistic society, welcomed the early Christians, allowing the continuance of the Christian monotheism with the only request that the Christians honor the religions of the Romans. Christians, as you might imagine, refused and were sufficiently recalcitrant to have the Roman government consider the Christians to be a subversive organization rebelling against the culture and religion of Rome.

This is where the lions and tigers and bears came in.

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