Sophia Scriptura

Church History 6.5.2

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Threatened with rape by gladiators, Potamiaena gave an answer the judge took as impious.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:247

φασί γέ τοι τὸν δικαστὴν (Ἀκύλας ἦν τούτῳ ὄνομα), χαλεπὰς ἐπιθέντα αὐτῇ κατὰ παντὸς τοῦ σώματος αἰκίας, τέλος ἐφʼ ὕβρει τοῦ σώματος μονομάχοις αὐτὴν ἀπειλῆσαι παραδοῦναι· τὴν δὲ βραχύ τι εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἐπισκεψαμένην, ἐρωτηθεῖσαν ὃ κρίνειε, τοιαύτην δοῦναι ἀπόκρισιν, διʼ ἧς ἐδόκει νενομισμένον τι αὐτοῖς ἀσεβὲς ἀποφθέγξασθαι

English · Claude translation

They say that the judge (his name was Aquila), having inflicted severe tortures on her whole body, finally threatened to hand her over to the gladiators to outrage her body; and she, after considering a little within herself, when asked what her decision was, gave such an answer as seemed to them to utter something impious in their eyes.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:247 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

  • The sentence seems to end abruptly in the digital text; her answer is not recorded.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/5/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/5/2/).

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