The Alexamenos Graffito
In the history of art, the Crucifixion of Jesus is one of the most painted subjects of all time. We are accustomed to seeing it depicted with reverence, in stained glass, on gold icons, and in Renaissance masterpieces. However, the very earliest surviving image of the Crucifixion looks nothing like these. It is not a masterpiece. It is a crude, scratched cartoon found on a plaster wall in Rome. And it was not drawn by a believer; it was drawn by a bully. This image is known as the Alexamenos Graffito . While it was created as a hateful insult, it has survived the centuries to become one of the most powerful historical proofs of what the early Christians actually believed. The Discovery on the Palatine Hill In 1857, archaeologists were excavating the Palatine Hill in Rome, specifically a building believed to be the Paedagogium —a boarding school for imperial page boys and servants. On a wall inside one of the rooms, amidst various other scratchings, they found a piece of...