persecution · 161–180 · Lyon
Under Marcus Aurelius persecution flared locally: Polycarp of Smyrna burned in the stadium (c. 156), Justin beheaded at Rome (c. 165), and in 177 the churches of Lyon and Vienne saw some 48 martyrs — the slave Blandina and the ninety-year-old bishop Pothinus among them — in a pogrom their own letter, preserved by Eusebius, describes.
Local mob and magistrate action under the Antonine emperors.
Polycarp burned, Justin beheaded, the 48 martyrs of Lyon — the age of the martyr-acts begins.