The Walks

 

Lots of cool little courtyards in Lyon

I have a lot of projects going on right now, but I've decided my most important, top priority, is to walk around Lyon every morning.  Yesterday I walked along the river Saone far north of our apartment and today I walked to the Amphitheater of the 3 Gauls. 

I read that the amphitheater of the 3 Gauls was built in 12.  It's weird to think that something was built in 12, but there you go. It's in decent shape, surprisingly. 

The amphitheater of the 3 Gauls isn't as great as the other amphitheater up near the basilica, but it was pretty interesting to walk there and imagine the Gauls, and then the Romans, hanging out having meetings and festivals and such. 

I read on a plaque that a woman by the name of Blandina was martyred in this very amphitheater.  When I got home, I found out a bit more from Wikipedia.  Come to find out, St. Blandina had a pretty horrible death.  I don't know which heinous crime she committed, but she surely didn't deserve this:

She was bound to a stake and wild beasts were set on her. According to legend, they did not, however, touch her. After enduring this for a number of days, in an effort to persuade her to recant, she was led into the arena to see the sufferings of her companions. Finally, as the last of the martyrs, she was scourged, placed on a red-hot grate, enclosed in a net and thrown before a wild steer who tossed her into the air with his horns. In the end, she was killed with a dagger.^[6]

If I had to give a Fist of 5 for how bad St. Blandina's death was, I'd give it a solid 5. Why go to all this hassle when you're just going to eventually use a dagger?  Lyon has a bit of a checkered past, but most places do I suppose.