Martyr 2nd century

Martyr Ariadne of Phrygia

2nd century; died c. 130 AD

Also known as Ariadne

A Christian slave of Phrygia who refused to join her master's pagan celebration and suffered as a martyr under Hadrian.

Feast Day

September 18

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Commemorated as

The Holy Martyr Ariadne of Phrygia

Life

Ariadne of Phrygia was a second-century Christian martyr who, according to her vita, was a slave woman in the household of a certain Tertullus in the Phrygian city of Prymnessus (also rendered Promissia or Promissaria). She is traditionally placed in the reign of the emperor Hadrian, with her death dated to around 130 AD.

Her martyrdom is said to have arisen when she refused to take part in the pagan festivities held for the birthday of her master's son, a refusal that exposed her as a Christian during a period of persecution. The Orthodox synaxarion describes her as wiser than many noble ladies enslaved by worldly vanities, emphasizing her spiritual dignity in spite of her servile station.

She is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on September 18 and is also venerated in the Roman Catholic Church (September 17), in Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East, and the Anglican Communion.

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c. 130 AD Martyrdom in Phrygia Ariadne, a slave of Tertullus in Prymnessus, refused to join the pagan celebration of his son's birthday, was brought before the authorities, and suffered as a martyr during a persecution attributed to the reign of Hadrian.

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Historical Context

Ariadne's vita sets her in Prymnessus, a city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, during a persecution associated with an edict attributed to the emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. As a slave in the household of Tertullus, she occupied the lowest social rank, which gives her refusal to conform a particular weight in the tradition.

By her account she declined to participate in the rituals marking the birthday of Tertullus's son. The matter was referred to the provincial governor, named Gordios, before whom both Ariadne and Tertullus were summoned. Tertullus was acquitted, while Ariadne was condemned. The vita relates that the people of Prymnessus intervened to secure her three days for repentance, during which she fled into the nearby mountains and, pursued by the Roman authorities, was delivered when the earth opened and received her.

Sources and Historicity

The sole primary witness to Ariadne's life is a short Greek hagiographic text dated to the fourth or fifth century, preserved in the Vatican on a palimpsest of the ninth or tenth century.

Scholarship, notably the work of Peter Thonemann (2015), holds that the text may rest on an older, now-lost hagiography. Some elements appear legendary, while others seem to draw on an inscription naming a Tiberius Claudius Vibianus Tertullus, suggesting that the figure of her master may have a historical anchor even where the narrative is embellished.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints