Church History 8.12.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Eusebius lists tortures in Arabia, Cappadocia, Mesopotamia, and Alexandria: axes, broken legs, suffocation by smoke, and mutilation.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:365

Τί με χρὴ νῦν ἐπʼ ὀνόματος τῶν λοιπῶν μνημονεύειν, ἢ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀριθμεῖν, ἢ τὰς πολυτρόπους αἰκίας ἀναζωγραφεῖν τῶν θαυμασίων Χριστοῦ μαρτύρων, τοτὲ μὲν πέλυξιν ἀναιρουμένων, οἷα γέγονε τοῖς ἐπʼ Ἀραβίας, τοτὲ δὲ τὰ σκέλη καταγνυμένων, οἷα τοῖς ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ συμβέβηκε, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἐκ τοῖν ποδοῖν εἰς ὕψος ἀναρτωμένων, καὶ μαλθακοῦ πυρὸς ὑποκαιομένου τῷ παραπεμπομένῳ καπνῷ τῆς φλεγομένης ὕλης ἀποπνιγομένων, οἷα τοῖς ἐν Μέσῃ τῶν ποταμῶν ἐπήχθη, ποτὲ δὲ ῥῖνας καὶ ὦτα καὶ χεῖρας ἀκρωτηριαζομένων, τά τε λοιπὰ τοῦ σώματος μέλη καὶ μέρη κρεουργουμένων, οἷα τὰ ἐπʼ Ἀλεξανδρείας ἦν;

English · Claude translation

Why need I now mention the rest by name, or number the multitude of the men, or picture the manifold outrages suffered by the wonderful martyrs of Christ: sometimes slain with axes, as happened to those in Arabia; sometimes having their legs broken, as befell those in Cappadocia; and at times hung up head downward by the feet over a slow fire and suffocated by the smoke rising from the burning wood, as was done to those in Mesopotamia; sometimes having their noses, ears, and hands cut off and the other limbs and parts of the body cut up like meat, as was done at Alexandria?

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:365 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Topics

Martyrdom, Persecution

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/1/).