I've actually been to the Colosseum twice already but I don't remember hearing this story. I could only think of 2 probable reasons - attention deficit or poor memory - either way, it doesn't sound good considering both of my visits were just in the last 5 years! Waaaa.....
Anyway, gladiator games are believed to have originated as rites of sacrifice to honor the dead and to appease the spirits with blood offering. In Rome, gladiator games started in 264 BC.
Most gladiators were prisoners of war, slaves, or criminals. Free men also volunteered to be gladiators - these were mostly social outcasts, freed slaves, discharged soldiers, or retired gladiators who opted to return to service.
The Colosseum in Rome is said to be the largest and magnificent of amphitheaters in the world. It was inaugurated in AD 80 and could hold up to 50,000 to 80,000 spectators. Other than gladiator games, they also held public spectacles, animal hunts, public executions of Christian martyrs who refused to renounce their faith, and mythology re-enactments in the arena.
During a gladiator game, if a man falls down, the spectators would either shout "Let him go" or "Kill him". To plea mercy either from his opponent or from the judge, the wounded gladiator could raise his left hand's index finger (assuming he still has the energy to raise his hand). The emperor then makes the final decision and usually heeds to the crowd for political reasons.
Sometime in the 400 AD, there lived a monk named Telemachus from Asia Minor (somewhere in Turkey). At that time, gladiator games were still very popular in Rome. Telemachus was disturbed since the Emperor then (Emperor Honorius) was a Christian and yet he sponsored the games. A lot of the spectators also called themselves Christians and yet they found entertainment in watching men fight to death.
One day, Telemachus got an urge to go to Rome. When he arrived in Rome, he didn't know where to go. But Telemachus was swept along by the crowds in jubilation of the recent victory against the Goths. He soon found himself on the way to the Colosseum.
While in the Colosseum, he witnessed gladiators fighting each other without pity amidst cheering crowds. He couldn't stand it and thought he should do something about it. He found his way to the arena and leapt in between the gladiators crying "Stop, stop, in the name of Christ I beg you to stop!". The audience initially found it a comic relief to see a scrawny figure in between the gladiators and started roaring with laughter. But as time went on, the spectators booed him as he was spoiling the fun.
There are various versions on how Telemachus died but one account said he was stoned to death by the crowd, and another version said the gladiators speared him to death. But in all versions, what was consistent was that Telemachus died repeatedly crying "Stop, stop, in the name of Christ I beg you to stop!".
As people watched him die, silence overcame the Colosseum. Suddenly, one by one, the spectators started exiting the Colosseum. That was the last day gladiators fought in the Colosseum.
Telemachus' courageous act changed the hearts of the crowd. That was January 1, 404 AD - the date of St. Telemachus' martyrdom. And that same day, Emperor Honorius issued the historic ban on all gladiator fights.
