Withstand the Ridicule

[300 words] The first surviving visual representation of Jesus’ crucifixion comes from graffiti scratched on a stone in a guardroom on Palatine Hill near the Circus Maximus in Rome. (Open your web browser and Google ”The Alexamenos Graffito.”) It is a crude drawing of a man with the head of a donkey hanging on a cross. To the left of the cross another man raises his hand in a gesture of worship. Scribbled underneath are the words “Alexamenos worships his God.” Before the onset of Christianity, the Jews had been accused of onolatry, i.e., worshiping a donkey. Among Greco-Roman writers, the reason for this association between the Jews and a donkey is varied; nevertheless, it’s clear that this defamation was eventually transferred to Jesus. After all, early Christianity was popularly perceived as a variant ofJudaism. As repulsive as the picture is to Christians today, it does convey how contemptible a…