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Died 1 January 404

Opponent of Gladiatorial Games

The church father Theodoretus reports that in the waning years of the Roman Empire, an ascetic monk “from the east” ventured into a gladiatorial stadium in Rome and tried to put a stop to the bloodthirsty contest that was a staple of Roman culture.

The gladiatorial game originated as a funeral gift for the dead. The first of these funeral rituals occurred in 264 BCE, when Decimus Junius Brutus ordered three pairs of slaves to fight in memory of his father. Over the next few centuries, gladiatorial combat became one of the symbols of Roman culture and authority easily recognized throughout the entire empire. It was also an integral part of the oddly named Pax Romana.

The Pax Romana kept the “peace” in three ways: the military, which used brutal and ruthless violence to keep the Roman “peace”; crucifixion, which served as a public method of execution to suppress any rebellion from conquered lands; and the stadium, the venue of violence for the common people that celebrated the military ideal of conquest through bloodshed.

In the latter part of the fourth century, Roman military might was fraying, stretched too thin by the hopeless task of policing the empire’s borders. Crucifixion had been abolished in 337 by Constantine when he converted to Christianity. The stadium’s gladiatorial combat, still as popular as ever, was the only aspect of the Pax Romana that remained relatively unscathed.

In Greek, Telemachus means “faraway fighter.” It’s an ironic name for a Christian who tried to put a stop to the gladiatorial games. He is said to have descended into the stadium “entreating the combatants” to cease fighting, but was beaten to the ground and killed.

The symbolism of Telemachus’ name wasn’t lost on the faithful in the fifth century. He “fights” (nonviolently) for Christ against the Roman Empire. From the “faraway” east, a place unsullied by the values of the violent Roman culture, he steps into a gladiatorial fight for the sake of the peace of Christ and is martyred.

The historical details about Telemachus’ death are obscure. Some records claim he was killed by the gladiators he confronted, others that he was stoned to death by the spectators, who were furious that their sport had been interrupted. Regardless of how he met his end, Telemachus’ fifth-century biographer Theodoretus clearly saw the death of the ascetic monk from the east as a symbol of Christianity’s repudiation of violence. And whether killed by sword or stone, Telemachus’ death was the catalyst that prompted the Emperor Honorius to end the practice of gladiatorial games in Rome. According to tradition, the final gladiator game in the empire took place on 1 January 404, which is also accepted as the day Telemachus met his end.