Sophia Scriptura

Church History 8.12.6

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

Summary: In Pontus martyrs had reeds driven under their nails and molten lead poured over them.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:367

τὰ φρικτὰ δὲ ἀκοαῖς κατὰ τὸν Πόντον ἔπασχον ἕτεροι, καλάμοις ὀξέσι τοῖν χεροῖν ἐξ ἄκρων ὀνύχων τοὺς δακτύλους διαπειρόμενοι, καὶ ἄλλοι πυρὶ μολίβδου διατακέντος βρασσούσῃ καὶ πεπυρακτωμένῃ τῇ ὕλῃ τὰ νῶτα καταχεόμενοι, καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ἀναγκαιότατα τοῦ σώματος κατοπτώμενοι·

English · Claude translation

Others in Pontus suffered things horrible to hear: their fingers were pierced with sharp reeds under the tips of the nails; others had molten lead, bubbling and red-hot, poured over their backs, and the most vital parts of the body roasted;

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:367 · 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. 8.12.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/6/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/6/).

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