The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicity

985
Miniature from the Menologion of Basil II
Vatican Library, Rome

In The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas the governor of Carthage orders that the Christian noblewoman Perpetua be thrown to the wild beasts along with four catechumens: Saturus, Saturninus, and the slaves Revocatus and Felicitas. When they survive this ordeal he has them put to the sword, as shown here.

In the image each woman is pictured twice: Perpetua lies bleeding in the foreground, behind her a man cuts the throat of Felicitas, and the two are also pictured lying dead in white garments. Of the men, the one in white may be Saturus, placed in front of the others because he was the first to be killed. The two bearded men would then be Saturninus and Revocatus.

Unusually, the action is shown not in the amphitheatre but on a hillside outside the city walls.

Read more about images of Saints Perpetua and Felicity.

Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.