Ignatius of Antioch manner of death capital punishment
Date of martyrdom
Due to the sparse and fragmentary nature of the documentation of Ignatius' life and martyrdom, the date of his death is subject to a significant amount of uncertainty. Tradition places the martyrdom of Ignatius in the reign of Trajan, who was emperor of Rome from 98 to 117 AD. The earliest source for this Trajanic date is the 4th century church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, who is regarded by some modern scholars as an unreliable source for chronological information regarding the early church. It has been argued that Eusebius had an ideological interest in dating church leaders as early as possible, and ensuring that there were no gaps in succession between the original apostles of Jesus and the leaders of the church in his day.While many scholars accept the traditional dating of Ignatius' martyrdom under Trajan, others have argued for a somewhat later date. Richard Pervo dated Ignatius' death to 135–140 AD. British classicist Timothy Barnes has argued for a date in the 140s AD, on the grounds that Ignatius seems to have quoted a work of the Gnostic Ptolemy in one of his epistles, who only became active in the 130s. Étienne Decrept has argued on the basis of the witnesses of John Malalas and the Acts of Drosis that Ignatius, along with other Christians, was martyred under the reign of Trajan, but during Apollo's festival in July 116 AD and in response to the earthquake that had struck Antioch at the end of 115 AD.
cause of death mode of death method of death way of dying circumstances of death