Tracing of the drawing The image depicts a human-like figure attached to a cross and possessing the head of a donkey. In the top right of the image appears what has been variously 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,[3] a Roman soldier/guard, raising one hand in a gesture possibly suggesting worship.[4][5] Beneath the cross there is a caption written in crude Greek: ??e?aµe??? ?eßete ?e??. In standard Greek, ?eßete should be understood as a variant spelling (possibly a phonetic misspelling)[6] of Standard Greek ?eßeta?, which means "worships". As a result, the full inscription would then be translated as "Alexamenos worships [his] God".[6][7][8] Several other sources suggest "Alexamenos worshipping God", or similar variants, as the intended translation.[9][10][11][12] [edit]Date
No clear consensus has been reached as to the date in which the image was originally made. Dates ranging from the late 1st to the late 3rd century have been suggested,[13] although the beginning of the 3rd century is thought the most likely date.[7][14][15] [edit]Discovery and location
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 or boarding-school for the 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.[16] The graffito is today housed in the Palatine antiquarium in Rome.[17] [edit]Interpretation
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