This graffito was discovered in 1857 during excavations of the Palatine Hill. It has become justly famous as one of the earliest depictions (and caricatures) of a Christian worshipping Christ crucified. For details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito
The Greek text printed above has caused some discussion, with some scholars debating how the imperative plural (sebete) could be used for the third person singular indicative (sebetai). D'oh!! I can think of two off the top of my head: spelling and pronunciation were fluid (as we will see in further inscriptions to come); whoever did this was mocking Christians, so he might have been mocking their language skills at the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment