Perpetua was the 3rd-century Christian martyr whose prison diary records her imprisonment before her death in the arena.
Vibia Perpetua was a young, well-born Christian woman from Carthage in Roman North Africa. She was arrested during the persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus and imprisoned with several other Christians, including her enslaved companion Felicity. Perpetua refused pressure from her pagan father to renounce her faith.
The surviving *Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity* incorporates an account written in Perpetua’s own voice. She describes prison conditions, her emotional struggle, her infant son, and several visions, including a symbolic contest in which she confronts an Egyptian opponent. The work is especially significant as one of the earliest substantial texts attributed to a Christian woman.
Perpetua and Felicity were taken to the amphitheatre at Carthage in about 203. After facing a wild animal, they were killed by gladiators. Felicity was Perpetua’s fellow martyr, not the author of the diary; Agatha and Blandina were different Christian martyrs.