massacre of Thessalonica
{'<entity_0>': 'massacre of Thessalonica', '<entity_1>': 'Thessaloniki', '<entity_2>': 'massacre', '<entity_3>': '390'}
[['massacre of Thessalonica', 'location', 'Thessaloniki'], ['massacre of Thessalonica', 'instance of', 'massacre'], ['massacre of Thessalonica', 'point in time', '390']]
The <entity_0> is one act in a set of disputed events that begins with the murder of an important Roman officer, an arrest, a riot by the inhabitants of <entity_1>, the retaliatory <entity_2> of many innocent Thessalonians by imperial troops under the Roman emperor Theodosius I in <entity_3>, and the confrontation between church and state that resulted. One description by Averil Cameron and Peter Garnsey in The Cambridge Ancient History says that, "In <entity_3>, Butheric, the garrison commander of Illyricum which included <entity_1>, was lynched by a mob of citizens in a dispute over the detention of a charioteer. Theodosius decided that a clear demonstration of his anger was required and in April <entity_3>, when the citizens of <entity_1> had gathered in the circus of their town, the emperor’s troops were let loose. Many contemporary scholars, such as C. W. R. Larson, are skeptical of the story None of the pagan historians of the period mention the Thessalonican <entity_2> at all The biggest problem, according to Stanley Lawrence Greenslade, is not the lack of information, it's that the story of the <entity_0> is in art and literature in the form of legend Neil B. McLynn, a Fellow in Later Roman History, explains that this political event was quickly transformed, in the Christian historiography of the time, into a moral lesson, where "the surviving sources always present the story... in the context of Theodosius' repentance.:316. Theodosius was not in <entity_1> when the <entity_2> occurred, the court was in Milan, and it is unclear whether he ordered or simply permitted the <entity_2> as a response G. W. Bowersock, Stephen Williams, and his co-author Gerard Friell think that Theodosius ordered the <entity_2> in an excess of "volcanic anger," "choler" and "wrath. The events in <entity_1> are generally believed to have occurred in April of <entity_3>, and in August of <entity_3>, Theodosius is alleged to have issued a law ordering a 30 day wait between an order for capitol punishment and its actual execution.
['massacre']