Perpetua in the Amphitheater: Spatial Power, Colonial Archaeology, and Christian History

Research reveals that the association of Saint Perpetua's martyrdom with Carthage's civic amphitheater, long considered definitive, lacks strong textual and archaeological support. Analysis of Latin and Greek Passion narratives, Acts, and later martyrologies shows the execution site was contested among three locations: Carthage’s municipal amphitheater, a military amphitheater in Carthage, or Thuburbo Minus’ amphitheater. This ambiguity persisted across late antiquity, the medieval period, and modernity. The study argues that early 20th-century French colonial Christian archaeologists, notably Alfred-Louis Delattre, deliberately linked Perpetua’s story to the civic amphitheater to bolster colonial Christian narratives, constructing a chapel beneath it for symbolic purposes. This finding underscores how spatial narratives in heritage sites can reflect and perpetuate colonial ideologies, challenging long-standing assumptions about ancient history.

Parkhouse, S. (2026). Perpetua in the Amphitheater: Spatial Power, Colonial Archaeology, and Christian History. Journal of Early Christian Studies, 34(1), 19–44. https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2026.a984181