# Alexamenos graffito

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{{short description|Ancient Roman graffito, early depiction of Jesus}}
{{redirect|Jesus donkey|the animal ridden by Jesus in the synoptic gospels|Triumphal entry into Jerusalem#The donkey(s)}}
{{Infobox artifact
| name = Alexamenos graffito
| image = {{Switcher 
|thumb
|Photo of the plaster|default=1
|thumb
|Tracing of the inscription 
}}
| material = [Plaster](/source/Plaster)
| writing = Ancient [Greek](/source/Greek_language) inscription: ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ ("Alexamenos worships [his] god")
| discovered = 1857
| discovered_place = [Domus Gelotiana](/source/Domus_Gelotiana), [Palatine Hill](/source/Palatine_Hill), [Rome](/source/Rome), [Italy](/source/Italy)
| period = Early 3rd century AD
| location = [Palatine Museum](/source/Palatine_Museum), [Rome](/source/Rome)
| culture = [Ancient Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome)
}}
The '''Alexamenos graffito''' ({{Langx|it|graffito blasfemo|4=[blasphemous](/source/blasphemous) graffito}},<ref name="Bayley">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/archaicenglanda00baylgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/archaicenglanda00baylgoog/page/n407 393] |quote=alexamenos. |first=Harold |last=Bayley |title=Archaic England: An essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions |publisher=Chapman & Hall |year=1920 |access-date=2020-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201213038/https://archive.org/details/archaicenglanda00baylgoog |archive-date=2015-02-01 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|393}} or {{lang|it|graffito di Alessameno}}) is a piece of [Roman graffiti](/source/Roman_graffiti) scratched into the plaster of a wall in a room near the [Palatine Hill](/source/Palatine_Hill) in [Rome, Italy](/source/Rome), which has since been removed and is now located in the [Palatine Museum](/source/Palatine_Museum). Often said to be the earliest [depiction of Jesus](/source/depiction_of_Jesus), the graffito is difficult to date, but has been estimated to have been made around the year 200 AD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/graffito.html|title=Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians|work=uchicago.edu}}</ref> The image seems to show a young man worshiping a [crucified](/source/Crucifixion), [donkey](/source/donkey)-headed figure. The [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) inscription approximately translates to {{gloss|'Alexamenos worships [his] god'}},<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2ZACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232|title=Sight and the Ancient Senses|isbn=9781317515388|access-date=2018-08-31 |last1=Squire|first1=Michael|date=22 December 2015|publisher=Routledge }}</ref> indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a [Christian](/source/Christians) named Alexamenos.<ref name="Viladesau">{{cite book|last=Viladesau|first=Richard|title=The Word in and Out of Season |year=1992 |publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=0-8091-3626-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FRi1eU4BYEC&pg=PA46 |page=46|access-date=2016-07-19 }}</ref>

== Content ==
[[File:Christparody.jpg|thumb|[High contrast](/source/High_contrast) image of the graffito for clarity]]
The image depicts a human-like figure [affixed to a cross](/source/crucifixion) and possessing the head of a [donkey](/source/donkey) or [mule](/source/mule). In the top right of the image is what has been interpreted as either the Greek letter [upsilon](/source/upsilon) or a [tau cross](/source/tau_cross).<ref name="Bayley" /> To the left of the image is a young man{{snd}}apparently intended to represent Alexamenos<ref>Rodolfo Lanciani, ''Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries'', 1898, chapter 5 'The Palace of the Caesars'</ref>{{snd}}as a [Roman soldier](/source/Roman_soldier) or guard, raising one hand in a gesture possibly suggesting worship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorycaricat00wriggoog/page/n61 |title=A history of caricature and grotesque in literature and art |date=1968 |publisher=New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co |others=Oxford University}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Augustus John Cuthbert |last=Hare |title=Walks in Rome, Volume 1 |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjvP6cmXX94C |page=201 |isbn=9781402186424 }}</ref>

Beneath the cross is a crude caption written as {{lang|grc|"ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ"}}. The word {{Lang|grc|"ϹΕΒΕΤΕ"}} can be understood as a variant (or a possible [phonetic](/source/phonetic) misspelling) of the Standard Greek word {{Lang|grc|ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ}}, which means {{gloss|'worships'}}.{{efn|More specifically, {{lang|grc|ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ}} ({{lang|grc|σέβεται}}, ''sébetai'') is the ''third-person present-tense singular indicative middle/passive'' conjugation for {{Wikt-lang|grc|σέβομαι}} (''sébomai''; see [Ancient Greek grammar](/source/Ancient_Greek_grammar) and [Koine Greek grammar](/source/Koine_Greek_grammar)), which classically means {{gloss|to feel [awe](/source/awe) or fear before God, especially when doing something disgraceful}}. It also carries a more general meaning of feeling shame or religious awe. Its descendant in [Modern Greek](/source/Modern_Greek), {{Wikt-lang|el|σέβομαι}} (''sévomai''), merely means {{gloss|respect}}.}} The inscription would then be read as {{lang|grc|"Ἀλεξάμενος σέβεται θεόν"}}, or {{gloss|'Alexamenos worships [his] God'}}.<ref name="p. 103">{{cite book |first1=David L. |last1=Balch |first2=Carolyn |last2=Osiek |title=Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjMdbpzLhRQC&pg=PA103 |page=103 |isbn=9780802839862 }}</ref><ref name="p. 208">{{cite book |first=B. Hudson |last=MacLean |title=An introduction to Greek epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman periods from Alexander the Great down to the reign of Constantine |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2AD3M77TgMC&pg=RA1-PA208 |page=208 |isbn=0472112384 }}</ref> Several other sources suggest {{gloss|'Alexamenos worshipping a god'}} or other similar variants as the intended translation.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |wstitle=The Ass (in Caricature of Christian Beliefs and Practices) |last=Hassett |first=Maurice M. |volume=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctsfw.edu/library/files/pb/1560 |title=Home Page – Concordia Theological Seminary |publisher=Ctsfw.edu |access-date=2012-10-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704204343/http://www.ctsfw.edu/library/files/pb/1560 |archive-date=2008-07-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/pdfs/seedreport04/dec04/Graffiti%20R%20Proj.pdf |title=''A Sociological Analysis of Graffiti'' |publisher=Sustain.ubc.ca |access-date=2012-10-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004110730/http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/pdfs/seedreport04/dec04/Graffiti%20R%20Proj.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Charles William King|title=''Gnostics and their Remains''|year=1887|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/gar71.htm|at=p. 433 note 12|access-date=2012-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104134234/http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/gar71.htm|archive-date=2012-11-04|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the next chamber, another inscription in a different hand written in both Greek and [Latin](/source/Latin) reads as {{Lang|grc|"ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ}} {{Lang|la|FIDELIS"|italic=no}} ("''Alexamenos'' {{Wikt-lang|la|fidelis}}"), which either means {{gloss|'Alexamenos is faithful'}} or {{gloss|'Alexamenos the faithful'}}.<ref name="CathEncy grafitti">{{cite CE1913 |wstitle= Graffiti |first= Maurice M. |last= Hassett |volume=6}}</ref> This may be a retort by an unknown party to the mockery of Alexamenos represented in the graffito.<ref name="p. 244" />

== Date ==
No clear consensus has been reached on when the image was made. Dates ranging from the late 1st century AD to the late 3rd century AD have been suggested,<ref>{{cite book |first=Hans |last=Schwarz |title=Christology |publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year= 1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcrsdlz041AC&pg=PA207 |page=207 |isbn=9780802844637 }}</ref> with the beginning of the 3rd century AD thought to be the most likely.<ref name="p. 103" /><ref name="p. 244">{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Green |title=Evangelism in the Early Church |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year= 2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9F-nnE2dfqUC&pg=PA244 |page=244 |isbn=9780802827685 }}</ref>

== Discovery and location ==
The graffito was discovered in 1857 when a building known as the ''domus Gelotiana'' was unearthed on the [Palatine Hill](/source/Palatine_Hill). The emperor [Caligula](/source/Caligula) had acquired the house for the imperial palace, which after Caligula died was used as a ''Paedagogium'' ([boarding school](/source/boarding_school)) for imperial [page boys](/source/Page_(occupation)). Later, the street along which the house sat was walled off to support extensions to the buildings above and thus remained sealed for centuries.<ref>{{cite book |first=Edward L |last=Cutts |title=History of Early Christian Art |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zayvAvrH0EwC&pg=PA200 |page=200 |isbn=9780766187214 }}</ref>

== Interpretation ==
The inscription is usually considered to be a mocking depiction of a [Christian](/source/Christians) in the act of worship. The donkey's head and crucifixion would both have been considered insulting depictions by contemporary Roman society. Crucifixion continued to be used as a method of execution for the worst criminals until its abolition by the first Christian emperor [Constantine I](/source/Constantine_the_Great) in the early 4th century AD.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=N. T. Wright |first=N. T. |last=Wright |title=What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity? |year=1997 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCsD4nkYeEQC&pg=RA1-PA46 |page=46 |isbn=9780802844453 }}</ref>

It seems to have been commonly believed at the time that Christians practiced ''[onolatry](/source/onolatry)'' (donkey-worship). That was based on the misconception that Jews worshipped a god in the form of a [donkey](/source/donkey), a claim made by [Apion](/source/Apion) (30–20 BC – {{Circa|45-48 AD}}) and denied by [Josephus](/source/Josephus) in his work ''[Against Apion](/source/Against_Apion)''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/apion-2.html|title=Josephus: Against Apion II|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

[Origen](/source/Origen) reports in his treatise ''[Contra Celsum](/source/Contra_Celsum)'' that the pagan philosopher [Celsus](/source/Celsus) made the same claim against Christians and Jews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04167.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Contra Celsum, Book VII (Origen)|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

[Tertullian](/source/Tertullian), writing during the late 2nd or early 3rd century, reports that Christians, along with Jews, were accused of worshiping such a deity. He also mentions an [apostate Jew](/source/apostate_Jew) who carried around [Carthage](/source/Carthage) a [caricature](/source/caricature) of a Christian with a donkey's ears and hooves, labeled {{Lang|la|Deus Christianorum}} {{lang|grc|ὀνοκοίτης}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/latin/apologeticum_becker.htm|title=Tertulliani Apologeticum|access-date=2018-08-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912204755/http://www.tertullian.org/latin/apologeticum_becker.htm|archive-date=2018-09-12|url-status=live}}</ref> ({{gloss|'The God of the Christians conceived of an ass'}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tertullian : T.H. BINDLEY, The Apology of Tertullian (1890) |url=https://www.tertullian.org/articles/bindley_apol/bindley_apol.htm |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=www.tertullian.org}}</ref>

In the image, Alexamenos is portrayed [venerating](/source/venerating) an image of the [crucifix](/source/crucifix), a detail that [Peter Maser](/source/Peter_Maser) believed to represent the Christian practice of venerating [icons](/source/icons). The practice, however, was not known to be part of Christian worship until the 4th or 5th century.<ref name="p. 103"/>

thumb|"Anubis as Guardian of the Dead" from Lundy, John Patterson (1876). ''Monumental Christianity'' New York, J.W. Bouton. p. 60.

thumb|"The Gnostic Anubis" from Lundy, John Patterson (1876). ''Monumental Christianity'' New York, J.W. Bouton. p. 61.

Some scholars of the 19th century argued that the inscription is actually a depiction of the [jackal](/source/jackal)-headed Egyptian god [Anubis](/source/Anubis). For example, in Rev. John P. Lundy's book on early Christian history published in 1876, it identifies the inscription as the "[Gnostic](/source/Gnostic) Anubis."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundy |first1=John Patterson |title=Monumental Christianity; or, The art and symbolism of the primitive church as witnesses and teachers of the one Catholic faith and practice |date=1876 |publisher=New York, J.W. Bouton |page=61 |isbn=978-0-524-01114-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/MonumentalChristianity/page/60/mode/1up?q=gnostic+anubis}}</ref> He writes that the inscription depicts the "head of Anubis, or [Thoth](/source/Thoth), the Egyptian [Mercury](/source/Mercury_(mythology)) and custodian of the dead".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundy |first1=John Patterson |title=Monumental Christianity; or, The art and symbolism of the primitive church as witnesses and teachers of the one Catholic faith and practice |date=1876 |publisher=New York, J.W. Bouton |page=59 |isbn=978-0-524-01114-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/MonumentalChristianity/page/60/mode/1up?q=gnostic+anubis}}</ref> 19th-century scholar [Charles William King](/source/Charles_William_King) says it is disputed whether it is a caricature of a Christian convert or an adoration of the jackal-headed god Anubis.<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Charles William |title=The Gnostics and their remains : ancient and mediaeval |date=1887 |publisher=London : Nutt |page=433 |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosticsandtheir00kinguoft/page/n460/mode/1up?q=Alexamenos}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [Anti-Christian sentiment](/source/Anti-Christian_sentiment)

== Notes ==

{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* [Titus Flavius Josephus](/source/Josephus), [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/apion-2.html ''Against Apion'', II (VII), 2.80]
* Norman Walker, ''The Riddle of the Ass's Head, and the question of a trigram'', ''[ZAW](/source/ZAW)'' 9 (1963), 219–231.

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://ntresources.com/blog/?page_id=2669 The Alexamenos Graffito: page by Rodney J. Decker]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/graffito.html Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070121210001/http://www.textexcavation.com/alexamenos.html Alexamenos: a Christian mocked for believing in a crucified God]}}

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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alexamenos graffito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.