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Alexamenos graffito

January 01, 1970

The Alexamenos graffito (also known as the graffito blasfemo, or blasphemous graffito)[1]: 393  is a piece of Roman graffito scratched in plaster on the wall of a room near the Palatine Hill in Rome, Italy, which has now been removed and is in the Palatine Museum.[2] It may be meant to depict Jesus; if so, it competes with an engraved gem held in the British Museum as the earliest known pictorial representation of the Crucifixion of Jesus.[3][4] It is hard to date, but has been estimated to have been made around the year 200 AD.[5] The image seems to show a young man worshipping a crucified, donkey-headed figure. The Greek inscription approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships [his] god,"[6] indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a Christian named Alexamenos.[7]

The Alexamenos graffito

Content edit

 
Stone rubbing trace of the drawing

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 or a tau cross.[1] To the left of the image is a young man – apparently intended to represent Alexamenos[8] – as a Roman soldier or guard, raising one hand in a gesture possibly suggesting worship.[9][10] The name Alexamenos (and its Latinate variant Alexamenus) is also attested in the instances of Alexamenus of Teos, student of Socrates, and the general, Alexamenus of Aetolia (2nd century BC), being composed of the common Greek compound elements of ἀλέξω (alexo, "I defend, help") and μένος (menos, "strength, bravery, power, etc."). Or, it may be derived from Greek ἀλεξάμενος (alexamenos), which is the participle of the Greek verb ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend" as well as "to help"[11] Beneath the cross is a caption written in crude Greek: ΑΛΕ ΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ, ALE XAMENOS SEBETE THEON. ϹΕΒΕΤΕ can be understood as a variant spelling (possibly a phonetic misspelling)[2] of Standard Greek ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ, which means "worships".[a] The full inscription would then be read as Ἀλεξάμενος σέβεται θεόν, "Alexamenos worships [his] God".[2][12][13] Several other sources suggest "Alexamenos worshiping a god", or similar variants, as the intended translation.[14][15][16][17] In the next chamber, another inscription in a different hand reads ΑΛΕξΑΜΕΝΟϹ FIDELIS (Alexamenos fidelis), Latin for "Alexamenos is faithful" or "Alexamenos the faithful".[18] This may be a retort by an unknown party to the mockery of Alexamenos represented in the graffito.[19][dubious – discuss]

Date edit

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,[20] with the beginning of the 3rd century AD thought to be the most likely.[12][21][19]

Discovery and location edit

The graffito was discovered in 1857 when a building called the domus Gelotiana was unearthed on the Palatine Hill. The emperor Caligula 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.[22]

Interpretation edit

The inscription is usually taken to be a mocking depiction of a Christian in the act of worship. At the time, pagans derided Christians for worshipping a man who had been crucified.[23] 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 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 around his neck or seated in an electric chair.[24]

It seems to have been commonly believed at the time that Christians practiced onolatry (donkey-worship). That was based on the misconception that Jews worshipped a god in the form of a donkey, a claim made by Apion (30-20 BC – c. AD 45-48) and denied by Josephus in his work Against Apion.[25]

Origen reports in his treatise Contra Celsum that the pagan philosopher Celsus made the same claim against Christians and Jews.[26]

Tertullian, 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 a caricature of a Christian with ass's ears and hooves, labeled Deus Christianorum ὀνοκοίτης[27] ("The God of the Christians conceived of an ass.").[28]

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.[29]

In the image, Alexamenos is portrayed venerating an image of the crucifix, a detail that Peter Maser believed to represent actual Christian practice, the veneration of icons. This practice, however, was not known to be a part of Christian worship until the 4th or 5th century.[12]

Notes edit

  1. ^ More specifically, ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ/σέβεται is the third-person present-tense singular indicative middle/passive conjugation for σέβομαι (see Ancient Greek grammar and Koine Greek grammar), which classically means, "to feel 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, σέβομαι, merely means, "respect".

References edit

  1. ^ a b Bayley, Harold (1920). Archaic England: An essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions. Chapman & Hall. p. 393. from the original on 2015-02-01. Retrieved 2020-02-28. alexamenos.
  2. ^ a b c Rodney J. Decker, The Alexamenos Graffito 2015-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Schiller, 89-90, fig. 321
  4. ^ "magical gem; intaglio | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  5. ^ "Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians". uchicago.edu.
  6. ^ Squire, Michael (22 December 2015). Sight and the Ancient Senses. Routledge. ISBN 9781317515388. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  7. ^ Viladesau, Richard (1992). The Word in and Out of Season. Paulist Press. p. 46. ISBN 0-8091-3626-0. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  8. ^ Rodolfo Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, 1898, chapter 5 'The Palace of the Caesars'
  9. ^ Thomas Wright, Frederick William Fairholt, A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art, Chatto and Windus, 1875, p. 39
  10. ^ Hare, Augustus John Cuthbert (2005). Walks in Rome, Volume 1. Adamant Media Corporation. p. 201. ISBN 9781402186424.
  11. ^ "Behind the Name - Alexamenos". from the original on 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  12. ^ a b c Balch, David L.; Osiek, Carolyn (2003). Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 9780802839862.
  13. ^ MacLean, B. Hudson (2002). An introduction to Greek epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman periods from Alexander the Great down to the reign of Constantine. University of Michigan Press. p. 208. ISBN 0472112384.
  14. ^ Hassett, Maurice M. (1907). "The Ass (in Caricature of Christian Beliefs and Practices)" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  15. ^ . Ctsfw.edu. Archived from the original on 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  16. ^ (PDF). Sustain.ubc.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  17. ^ Charles William King (1887). "Gnostics and their Remains". p. 433 note 12. from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  18. ^ Hassett, Maurice M. (1909). "Graffiti" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  19. ^ a b Green, Michael (2004). Evangelism in the Early Church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 244. ISBN 9780802827685.
  20. ^ Schwarz, Hans (1998). Christology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 207. ISBN 9780802844637.
  21. ^ Schiller, 90
  22. ^ Cutts, Edward L (2004). History of Early Christian Art. Kessinger Publishing. p. 200. ISBN 9780766187214.
  23. ^ Drum, Walter (1910). "The Incarnation" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  24. ^ Wright, N. T. (1997). What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 46. ISBN 9780802844453.
  25. ^ "Josephus: Against Apion II". penelope.uchicago.edu.
  26. ^ "CHURCH FATHERS: Contra Celsum, Book VII (Origen)". www.newadvent.org.
  27. ^ "Tertulliani Apologeticum". from the original on 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  28. ^ Tertullian, Apologeticum, 16, 1 and 12. 2017-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Schiller, 89-90

Sources edit

Further reading edit

  • Titus Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, II (VII), 2.80
  • Norman Walker, The Riddle of the Ass's Head, and the question of a trigram, ZAW 9 (1963), 219–231.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexamenos graffito.
  • The Alexamenos Graffito: page by Rodney J. Decker
  • Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians
  • Alexamenos: a Christian mocked for believing in a crucified God 2007-01-21 at the Wayback Machine

January 01, 1970
alexamenos, graffito, also, known, graffito, blasfemo, blasphemous, graffito, piece, roman, graffito, scratched, plaster, wall, room, near, palatine, hill, rome, italy, which, been, removed, palatine, museum, meant, depict, jesus, competes, with, engraved, hel. The Alexamenos graffito also known as the graffito blasfemo or blasphemous graffito 1 393 is a piece of Roman graffito scratched in plaster on the wall of a room near the Palatine Hill in Rome Italy which has now been removed and is in the Palatine Museum 2 It may be meant to depict Jesus if so it competes with an engraved gem held in the British Museum as the earliest known pictorial representation of the Crucifixion of Jesus 3 4 It is hard to date but has been estimated to have been made around the year 200 AD 5 The image seems to show a young man worshipping a crucified donkey headed figure The Greek inscription approximately translates to Alexamenos worships his god 6 indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a Christian named Alexamenos 7 The Alexamenos graffito Contents 1 Content 2 Date 3 Discovery and location 4 Interpretation 5 Notes 6 References 7 Sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksContent edit nbsp Stone rubbing trace of the drawing 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 or a tau cross 1 To the left of the image is a young man apparently intended to represent Alexamenos 8 as a Roman soldier or guard raising one hand in a gesture possibly suggesting worship 9 10 The name Alexamenos and its Latinate variant Alexamenus is also attested in the instances of Alexamenus of Teos student of Socrates and the general Alexamenus of Aetolia 2nd century BC being composed of the common Greek compound elements of ἀle3w alexo I defend help and menos menos strength bravery power etc Or it may be derived from Greek ἀle3amenos alexamenos which is the participle of the Greek verb ἀle3w alexo meaning to defend as well as to help 11 Beneath the cross is a caption written in crude Greek ALE 3AMENOϹ ϹEBETE 8EON ALE XAMENOS SEBETE THEON ϹEBETE can be understood as a variant spelling possibly a phonetic misspelling 2 of Standard Greek ϹEBETAI which means worships a The full inscription would then be read as Ἀle3amenos sebetai 8eon Alexamenos worships his God 2 12 13 Several other sources suggest Alexamenos worshiping a god or similar variants as the intended translation 14 15 16 17 In the next chamber another inscription in a different hand reads ALE3AMENOϹ FIDELIS Alexamenos fidelis Latin for Alexamenos is faithful or Alexamenos the faithful 18 This may be a retort by an unknown party to the mockery of Alexamenos represented in the graffito 19 dubious discuss Date editNo 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 20 with the beginning of the 3rd century AD thought to be the most likely 12 21 19 Discovery and location editThe graffito was discovered in 1857 when a building called the domus Gelotiana was unearthed on the Palatine Hill The emperor Caligula 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 22 Interpretation editThe inscription is usually taken to be a mocking depiction of a Christian in the act of worship At the time pagans derided Christians for worshipping a man who had been crucified 23 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 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 around his neck or seated in an electric chair 24 It seems to have been commonly believed at the time that Christians practiced onolatry donkey worship That was based on the misconception that Jews worshipped a god in the form of a donkey a claim made by Apion 30 20 BC c AD 45 48 and denied by Josephus in his work Against Apion 25 Origen reports in his treatise Contra Celsum that the pagan philosopher Celsus made the same claim against Christians and Jews 26 Tertullian 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 a caricature of a Christian with ass s ears and hooves labeled Deus Christianorum ὀnokoiths 27 The God of the Christians conceived of an ass 28 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 29 In the image Alexamenos is portrayed venerating an image of the crucifix a detail that Peter Maser believed to represent actual Christian practice the veneration of icons This practice however was not known to be a part of Christian worship until the 4th or 5th century 12 Notes edit More specifically ϹEBETAI sebetai is the third person present tense singular indicative middle passive conjugation for sebomai see Ancient Greek grammar and Koine Greek grammar which classically means to feel 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 sebomai merely means respect References edit a b Bayley Harold 1920 Archaic England An essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments earthworks customs coins place names and faerie superstitions Chapman amp Hall p 393 Archived from the original on 2015 02 01 Retrieved 2020 02 28 alexamenos a b c Rodney J Decker The Alexamenos Graffito Archived 2015 01 02 at the Wayback Machine Schiller 89 90 fig 321 magical gem intaglio British Museum The British Museum Retrieved 2022 06 26 Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians uchicago edu Squire Michael 22 December 2015 Sight and the Ancient Senses Routledge ISBN 9781317515388 Retrieved 2018 08 31 Viladesau Richard 1992 The Word in and Out of Season Paulist Press p 46 ISBN 0 8091 3626 0 Retrieved 2016 07 19 Rodolfo Lanciani Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries 1898 chapter 5 The Palace of the Caesars Thomas Wright Frederick William Fairholt A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art Chatto and Windus 1875 p 39 Hare Augustus John Cuthbert 2005 Walks in Rome Volume 1 Adamant Media Corporation p 201 ISBN 9781402186424 Behind the Name Alexamenos Archived from the original on 2019 05 23 Retrieved 2019 05 23 a b c Balch David L Osiek Carolyn 2003 Early Christian Families in Context An Interdisciplinary Dialogue Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 103 ISBN 9780802839862 MacLean B Hudson 2002 An introduction to Greek epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman periods from Alexander the Great down to the reign of Constantine University of Michigan Press p 208 ISBN 0472112384 Hassett Maurice M 1907 The Ass in Caricature of Christian Beliefs and Practices In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 1 New York Robert Appleton Company Home Page Concordia Theological Seminary Ctsfw edu Archived from the original on 2008 07 04 Retrieved 2012 10 17 A Sociological Analysis of Graffiti PDF Sustain ubc ca Archived from the original PDF on 2011 10 04 Retrieved 2012 10 17 Charles William King 1887 Gnostics and their Remains p 433 note 12 Archived from the original on 2012 11 04 Retrieved 2012 10 17 Hassett Maurice M 1909 Graffiti In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 6 New York Robert Appleton Company a b Green Michael 2004 Evangelism in the Early Church Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 244 ISBN 9780802827685 Schwarz Hans 1998 Christology Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 207 ISBN 9780802844637 Schiller 90 Cutts Edward L 2004 History of Early Christian Art Kessinger Publishing p 200 ISBN 9780766187214 Drum Walter 1910 The Incarnation In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 7 New York Robert Appleton Company Wright N T 1997 What Saint Paul Really Said Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 46 ISBN 9780802844453 Josephus Against Apion II penelope uchicago edu CHURCH FATHERS Contra Celsum Book VII Origen www newadvent org Tertulliani Apologeticum Archived from the original on 2018 09 12 Retrieved 2018 08 31 Tertullian Apologeticum 16 1 and 12 Archived 2017 01 05 at the Wayback Machine Schiller 89 90Sources editSchiller Gertrud Iconography of Christian Art Vol II 1972 English trans from German Lund Humphries London ISBN 0 85331 324 5Further reading editTitus Flavius Josephus Against Apion II VII 2 80 Norman Walker The Riddle of the Ass s Head and the question of a trigram ZAW 9 1963 219 231 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexamenos graffito The Alexamenos Graffito page by Rodney J Decker Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians Alexamenos a Christian mocked for believing in a crucified God Archived 2007 01 21 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alexamenos graffito amp oldid 1203298406, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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