The Alexamenos graffito (also known as the ''graffito blasfemo'', or

blasphemous Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religio ...

graffito) is a piece of Roman graffito scratched in plaster on the wall of a room near the

Palatine Hill The Palatine Hill (; la, Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus; it, Palatino ), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, which has now been removed and is in the

Palatine Museum The Palatine Museum, (, is a museum located on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Founded in the second half of the 19th century, it houses sculptures, fragments of frescoes, and archaeological material discovered on the hill. History Pietro Rosa creat ...

. It may be meant to depict

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

; if so, it competes with an

engraved gem An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major l ...

held in the British Museum as the earliest known pictorial representation of the

Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and conside ...

. It is hard to date, but has been estimated to have been made at around the year 200. The image seems to show a young man worshipping a crucified, donkey-headed figure. The Greek inscription approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships isgod," indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

named Alexamenos.

Content

The image depicts a human-like figure affixed to a cross and possessing the head of a donkey or mule. In the top right of the image is what has been interpreted as either the Greek letter

upsilon Upsilon (, ; uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; el, ''ýpsilon'' ) or ypsilon is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, grc, Υʹ, label=none has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw . Ety ...

or a

tau cross The tau cross is a T-shaped cross, sometimes with all three ends of the cross expanded. It is called a “tau cross” because it is shaped like the Greek letter tau, which in its upper-case form has the same appearance as Latin letter T. Anoth ...

. To the left of the image is a young manapparently intended to represent Alexamenosas a Roman soldier or guard, raising one hand in a gesture possibly suggesting worship. The name Alexamenos (and its Latinate variant ''Alexamenus'') is also attested in the instances of

Alexamenus of Teos Alexamenus of Teos ( grc-gre, Τήιος Ἀλεξαμενός, 5th century BC?) was one of the potential inventors of Greek literary genre of prose dialogue. Also known as Alexamenus of Tenos or Alexamenus of Styra, the only surviving news about ...

, student of Socrates, and the general,

Alexamenus of Aetolia Alexamenus ( grc, Ἀλεξαμενός), a general of the Aetolians in 196 BC, who was sent by the Aetolians in 192 during the War against Nabis, to obtain possession of Lacedaemon. He succeeded in his object, and killed Nabis Nabis ( grc ...

(2nd century BC), being composed of the common Greek compound elements of (''alexo'', "I defend, help") and (''menos'', "strength, bravery, power, etc."). Or, it may just be derived from Greek ἀλεξάμενος (alexamenos), which is the participle of the Greek verb ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend" as well as "to help" Beneath the cross is a caption written in crude el, ΑΛΕ ΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ, ''ALE XAMENOS SEBETE THEON''. ''ϹΕΒΕΤΕ'' can be understood as a variant spelling (possibly a

phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

misspelling)Rodney J. Decker
''The Alexamenos Graffito''
of Standard Greek ''ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ'', which means "worships". The full inscription would then be read as Ᾰλεξᾰ́μενος σέβεται θεόν, "Alexamenos worships isGod". Several other sources suggest "Alexamenos worshiping a god", or similar variants, as the intended translation. In the next chamber, another inscription in a different hand reads (''Alexamenos ''),

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

for "Alexamenos is faithful" or "Alexamenos the faithful". This may be a retort by an unknown party to the mockery of Alexamenos represented in the graffito.

Date

No clear consensus has been reached on when the image was made. Dates ranging from the late 1st to the late 3rd century have been suggested, with the beginning of the 3rd century thought to be the most likely.

Discovery and location

The graffito was discovered in 1857 when a building called the ''domus Gelotiana'' was unearthed on the

. The emperor

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanic ...

had acquired the house for the imperial palace, which, after Caligula died, became used as a ''Paedagogium'' ( boarding school) for imperial page boys. Later, the street on which the house sat was walled off to give support to extensions to the buildings above, and it thus remained sealed for centuries.

Interpretation

The inscription is usually taken to be a mocking depiction of a

in the act of worship. At the time,

pagans Pagans may refer to: * Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire * Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices * Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the ''Thief'' video game series * Pagan's M ...

derided Christians for worshipping a man who had been crucified. The donkey's head and crucifixion would both have been considered insulting depictions by contemporary Roman society. Crucifixion continued to be used as an execution method for the worst criminals until its abolition by the emperor

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given nam ...

in the 4th century, and the impact of seeing a figure on a cross is comparable to the impact today of portraying a man with a

hangman's noose The hangman's knot or hangman's noose (also known as a collar during the Elizabethan era) is a knot most often associated with its use in hanging a person. For a hanging, the knot of the rope is typically placed under or just behind the left ...

around his neck or seated in an

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

. It seems to have been commonly believed at the time that Christians practiced ''

onolatry Onolatry is the supposed worship of the donkey. In Imperial Rome, the charge of onolatry was used to taunt the Jews and first Christians. The association of Jews with donkeys was a common feature of Hellenic as well as Latin ethnographic and his ...

'' (donkey-worship). That was based on the misconception that Jews worshipped a god in the form of a donkey, a claim made by

Apion Apion Pleistoneices ( el, Ἀπίων Πλειστονίκου ''Apíōn Pleistoníkēs''; 30–20 BC – c. AD 45–48), also called Apion Mochthos, was a Hellenized Egyptian grammarian, sophist, and commentator on Homer. He was born at the Si ...

(30-20 BC – c. AD 45-48) and denied by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

in his aptly-titled work ''

Against Apion ''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a ...

''.

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

reports in his treatise ''

Contra Celsum ''Against Celsus'' (Greek: Κατὰ Κέλσου ''Kata Kelsou''; Latin: ''Contra Celsum''), preserved entirely in Greek, is a major apologetics work by the Church Father Origen of Alexandria, written in around 248 AD, countering the writin ...

'' that the pagan philosopher

Celsus Celsus (; grc-x-hellen, Κέλσος, ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work, '' The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: grc-x-hellen, Λό� ...

made the same claim against Christians and Jews.

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of ...

, writing in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, reports that Christians, along with Jews, were accused of worshipping such a deity. He also mentions an apostate Jew who carried around

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the clas ...

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

of a Christian with ass's ears and hooves, labeled ''Deus Christianorum'' ("The God of the Christians conceived of an ass."). It has also been suggested that both the graffito and the roughly contemporary gems with Crucifixion images are related to heretical groups outside the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

.Schiller, 89-90 In the image, Alexamenos is portrayed venerating an image of the

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

, a detail that

Peter Maser Peter Maser (born 3 August 1943) is a German protestant church historian. Life Peter Maser was born in Berlin at the height of the Second World War. He grew up at Bad Kösen in the Soviet occupation zone, relaunched in October 1949 as the ...

believed to represent actual Christian practice of veneration of

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...

s. This practice, however, was not known to be a part of Christian worship until the 4th or 5th century.

Notes

References

Sources

* Schiller, Gertrud. ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II'', 1972 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London,

External links

{{Commons category, Alexamenos graffito
The Alexamenos Graffito: page by Rodney J. Decker

3rd century in art 3rd century in the Roman Empire 3rd-century inscriptions 1857 archaeological discoveries Ancient city of Rome Anti-Christian sentiment in Europe Archaeological discoveries in Italy Arts in Rome Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity in Rome Crucifixion of Jesus in art Donkeys in art Early Christianity-related inscriptions Graffiti (archaeology) Palatine Hill Roman Empire art Roman-era Greek inscriptions