It is true that gladiatorial combat, the so-called munus, declined and finally ended in the period when Christianity had become the State religion of the Roman Empire. Although several Christian bishops spoke out against it, it took still a few hundred years before the munus completely disappeared, basically because later Christian emperors considered it a "pagan" game and a form of human sacrifice. Also, the munus gradually became ever less popular as the public started favoring Chariot Racing and public funding consequently shifted from munus to racing.The first "Christian" emperor, Constantine the Great, is often credited with banning the munus. But although he once issued a ban against gladiator games, Constantine only converted to Christianity shortly before his death and during his life still used 'throwing people to the beasts' as a form of death penalty for criminals.