Ariadne of Phrygia

Saint Ariadne of Phrygia, Martyr, was a Christian slave woman who received martyrdom in the second century, around 130. She is remembered on 18 September.

She was the slave of a certain Tertullus, at Prymnessus in Phrygia, when, by an edict attributed to Hadrian and Antoninus, Christianity was outlawed. When she refused to take part in the pagan rituals on the birthday of Tertullus' son, she was punished, and her case came to the knowledge of the provincial governor, Gordios. Both she and Tertullus were brought before the tribunal, where Tertullus was acquitted while she was condemned to be crucified. The people of Prymnessus intervened on her behalf, to give her three days of repentance, during which she escaped the Roman authorities, fleeing into the nearby mountains, where, according to tradition, she was saved from her pursuers by being swallowed up by the earth.

Another source says that, being a very young slave of the lord Tertillus, administrator of the city of Promisa in Phrygia, because she refused to enter the idol temple and offer sacrifice, her master ordered her hanged and tortured. She was long tortured in prison and then killed, in the time of the emperor Hadrian.