We have one question for you.
Has Catholic Online given you $5 worth of value this year? Maybe you came here for a prayer. Maybe you read today's Mass readings. Maybe you researched a saint. Maybe you needed an answer about the Catholic Faith. Maybe your child used Catholic Online School. If the answer is no, you don't owe us anything. Keep using Catholic Online. But if the answer is yes, we're asking you to give $5 today.
Catholic Online School has served 2.2 million student enrollments in 193 countries, and we continue working to make Catholic education available regardless of a family's financial circumstances. We don't need every reader to give. We need the readers who recognize the value of what they've received to stand behind it. Is Catholic Online worth $5 to you?
GIVE TODAY >>See the largest shopping mall in the ancient world where Christians could shop one day and die the next!
FREE Catholic Classes
An ancient Roman shopping mall where Christians would have shopped has been reopened to the public, at the same site where ancient Christians would have died for their faith.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
11/17/2016 (9 years ago)
Published in Travel
Keywords: Christians, Circus Maximus, theater, ancient, mall, Rome
LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The largest shopping mall in the ancient world was located in Rome, contained sixty shops and served customers as they came and went to the Circus Maximus, the site of the ancient Roman chariot races.
The Circus Maximus also has another distinction. It is where Christians were routinely put to death as entertainment between races.
The races themselves were violent affairs and racers were routinely killed or maimed as the chariots slammed into one another. Men and horses routinely met their death in the races. Between races, captive Christians could be brought out for additional public spectacle. Often, Christians were killed by wild animals, and at other times they could be set alight and burned to death.
Most people assume Christians were killed in the Flavian Amphitheatre (Coliseum), but it was in the actually in the Circus Maximums that most were killed.
Over the past seven years, archaeologists studied the ruins and uncovered secrets about the circus and the mall. The mall was part of the circus and was rebuilt following a fire in 64 AD. Reopened in 103 AD, the mall and races would have been attended by early Christians.
The ancient mall contained various shops and stores, restaurants, and brothels. Even an ancient laundromat was discovered. Ancient Romans used urine to wash clothes. Urine was effective because of the ammonia it contained.
Archeologists discovered gold jewelry, bronze coins and more during their excavation.
The site is now reopened to the public and can be toured.
The Circus Maximus served Rome for about a thousand years, and was closed in 549 AD, long after Rome was a Christian city at the heart of a Christian empire.
---'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'
Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online
Come Grow With Us
Sign up and walk the Catholic journey with millions around the world.
Receive inspiring emails on saints, daily readings, and free faith-building resources—no cost, ever.
Catholic Online Is Free. But We Need Your Help.
Please Watch
- 7 Morning Prayers
- Mysteries of the Rosary
- Litany of the Bl. Virgin Mary
- Popular Saints
- Popular Prayers
- Female Saints
- Saint Feast Days by Month
- Stations of the Cross
- St. Francis of Assisi
- St. Michael the Archangel
- The Apostles' Creed
- Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony
- Pray the Rosary
Copyright 2026 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2026 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
