Although the story of the triumphant rise of Christianity has often been told, it was a triumph achieved through blood and tribulation. The literal meaning of the term martyr meant witness, but among early Christians it quickly acquireda harsher meaning ' one who died for the faith ' and that witness through death was responsible for many conversions, including those of Justin Martyr, himself to offer just such witness, and perhaps Tertullian. Persecution was seen by early Christians, as by later historians, as one of the crucial infl uences on the growth and development of the early Church...