Theodosius, to safeguard Greece after a series of raids by the Goths, had stationed a large number of troops under General Butheric in Thessalonika, a city that had never been a garrison town.

The Thessalonians resent having to maintain the army, and tensions mount as quarrels between the soldiers and the citizens increase in number.

The trouble comes to a head in the summer of 390 when a popular charioteer makes a sexual advance to one of Butheric's attendants.

The general, taking the incident as a personal insult, has the charioteer thrown into prison.

When a mob gathers to protest the confinement of one of their favorite athletes, the demonstration degenerates into a riot in which Butheric is killed.

In retaliation for the murder of his general, Theodosius looses his troops on the city, making no attempt to sort the guilty from the innocent.

In the space of only three hours, seven thousand men, women, and children are massacred.