The Alexamenos Graffito

The Alexamenos graffito was made in Rome during the second century CE.

The graffito depicts a man with a donkey’s head hanging on a cross. To the left is another man facing the donkey-headed man on the cross, raising one hand. Below the cross is an inscription written in Greek:

ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟΣ ΣΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ

Alexamenos worships god.

Presumably, Alexamenos was a Christian, and his associates had come to know about his faith either because Alexamenos was trying to evangelize them, or because they had asked him about it. Apparently, Alexamenos’ associates found it laughable that he worshipped a man who had been crucified as a common criminal, and so they created this graffito to mock him and his faith.