Androcles and the Lion is a 1912 play written by George Bernard Shaw. 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... (George) Bernard Shaw (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was an Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. ...

Androcles and the Lion is Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requited mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw makes Androcles out to be one of many Christians being led to the Colosseum for torture. Characters in the play exemplify several themes and takes on both modern and supposed early Christianity, including cultural clash between Jesus' teachings and traditional Roman values. Androclus, a Roman slave who lived about the time of Tiberius. ...

The short play is often printed with a preface that includes a long examination of the Gospels by Shaw, in which Shaw analyzes the Bible and proclaims his findings wherein. In summary, Shaw states that Jesus was a benevolent genius (in areas ranging from moral to social to economical) who eventually bought into popular ideas of his divinity and impending martyrdom. Shaw goes on to state that the teachings of Jesus were lost with his crucifixion, and that following churches actually worship Paul or Barabbas. For the genre of Christian-themed music, see gospel music. ... Jesus (8-2 BC/BCE — 29-36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity. ... Artistic depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus. ... Give us Barabbas!, from The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, 1910 In the Christian narrative of the Passion of Jesus, Barabbas, according to some texts Jesus bar-Abbas, (Aramaic Bar-abbâ, son of the father), was the insurrectionary whom Pontius Pilate freed at the Passover...

The play was written at a time when the Christian Church was a persecuting force against non-believers. The reverse of roles in the play possibly served to evoke a empathy from his targeted audience. The characters also represent different "types" of Christian believers. The journey and final outcome of each of the characters make it clear which believers Shaw sympathizes with the most, especially with Lavinia. One of the most famous passages of the play is Lavinia's metaphor of capturing a mouse to converting from Christianity to believing in the Roman gods, where Lavinia shows that the most important part of religion is earnestness and a lack of hypocricy. Hypocricy was a characteristic in the Church which Shaw condemened.

The play has themes of martyrdom and persecution which are portrayed through the vehicle of comedy. Another point in the play is his position against vivisection, which connected to his philosophy in being a vegetarian. In the play, Shaw uses slapstick humour, verbal wit and physical humour to portray his themes. Historically, a martyr is a person who dies for his or her religious faith. ... Comedy is the use of humor in the form of theater, where it simply referred to a play with a happy ending, in contrast to a tragedy. ...

A version was published using the Shavian alphabet (1962 Penguin Books, London). Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...