This is exactly the lesson i was bestowing upon humanity. I, Jesus of Nazareth, king of all Man, is equal to a donkey, just as every man is equal. From peasant to king. Their trolling, then, is indicative of a culture of judgement and belittling, and therefore, Rome had to fall.
This graffito is actually very significant, and highly undervalued. The graffito is an anonymous person mocking another person’s religion in Greek. The person being mocked doesn’t have an aristocratic Roman name-no trinomen, no aristocratic spelling (Claudius is an aristocrat’s name, Clodius is not an aristocrat). He’s just a dude. It’s reasonable to assume that the writer of the graffito was of a similar social status. Why is all of that so important? He wrote the graffito, and (implicitly) expected Alexandros (and their mutual acquaintances) to read it. That requires their circle to be able to read. We currently see estimates of between a 3% to 8% literacy rate in different parts of the Roman Empire. Yet we are constantly encountering evidence of widespread literate graffiti on undisturbed walls of different buildings across the Empire, most notably in places like Pompeii and Herculaneum, where we have essentially a time capsule of the 1st century urban life in the Empire. Widespread literate graffiti requires a widespread level of literacy definitely higher than the current estimates suppose.
Contrary to popular belief, literacy wasn't a function of social status in the Roman era. Many Greek slaves were literate while their noble Roman masters were not. Additionally, this particular bit of graffiti was probably written by someone who would have been considered semi-literate at best. Someone else already commented that the writer spelled a word the way he thought it should sound instead of the way it should be spelled. There were levels of literacy in the ancient world. Most people who knew Greek could probably read a sentence of less than seven words if written without particles. This is because writing at this time lacked word spacings and punctuation marks, so reading a long composition quickly turns into math problem-solving. The few people who could read more rarely could write, and the very few people who could write couldn't all compose. When 3-8% is bandied around what is usually meant is the truly literate people who could read, write, and compose. These are the ones whose textual works passed down to us form the basis of our understanding of historical context. Alexamenos and his troll only had their legacies passed down to us thanks to archaeology. Also, the assumption here is that Alexamenos needed to be able to read for this jab to make sense. Well, not really. All it would have taken was for Euthychus the pedagogue to come across it and tell his friends at the tavern. Alexamenos would find out the next day through the usual grapevine. He would also figure out right away that it must have been Andronichus the carpet seller's work because he's the only one who could write around here.
Since you're so adamant about using the word "graffito" to show off your erudition, how about deciding what it means? You've got it meaning both the inscription and the person who made it. So which is it? Also, has it occured to you that the spelling might also be an intended insult, and not the guy's actual name?
Basically. Lots of assuming going on about history. Thanks to recorded history most people today think that before 1850 every person on earth and every civilization was a bloodthirsty maniac going around killing off people willy nilly. People don’t realize usually the war stuff gets recorded. Most the stuff in-between was never really written about too much.
Dude you’re an OG, seeing exactly which confusion you wanted to address by uploading a short linking to the video where you addressed it is so cunning and good for optics I respect it more than you know.
@@ReligionForBreakfast I think this is good, straightforward longform informative content just doesn't tend to translate well to shorts. I'd recommend looking at Miniminuteman for a channel on similar topics that tends to get a lot of shorts engagement
@@ReligionForBreakfastYou have. Their very informative and they don’t attempt to be like the rest of the overstimulating garbage most people see in a day
I think it's ironic that a mocking depiction of Christ has lasted as a testament to how widespread throughout the empire Christianity became in such a short amountvof time.
I have wondered for a long time how Christianity could spread so quickly in the Greek-Roman world. (It was a question from a high school teacher that made me ponder it, she didn't really give any answer). Lately, I have started to think that one of the main reasons why people in the area accepted Christianity so quickly, might have been that there are so many similar literary tropes in the stories about Jesus that we also find in Greek and Roman mythology about demigods, gods and heroes (and caesars) that became gods after their death. It seems the early Christians "wrapped" Jesus in myths/stories that were similar to parts of the myths people already knew. Like Jesus walking on water, just like the Greek gods Orion, Poseidon and Hermes, changing water to wine like the Greek god Dionysius, healing the blind and raising the dead like the Greek god Asclepius. Or Jesus being born of a human mother and with a god as a father, kind of similar to the Greek & Roman gods or/and heroes Romulus (and Remus), Asclepius, Ion, Helen, Julius Caesar. Or the eyewitnesses stories that he rose from the dead (disappearing body is also a part of the mythological apotheosis trope) and then ascended and after that was seen by his followers as a god, in many ways similar to the myths about Romulus, Asclepius, Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus. It wasn't uncommon with such stories being told about Roman emperors after their death. I believe there are other reasons too that made Christianity popular both among the rulers (after a while, that is) and also among the people (and the poor).
@@mailillThere is the fact that Greek Culture had already excepted the idea of God’s becoming human and doing great things, but alongside that you have the Greek religious understanding that there were unknown gods and the universal appeal of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life (which fit in well in Western Philosophy where sin was often viewed as separating man from true understanding, because he could not perceive the perfect form of things and what not.)
You forgot to mention the best part. "Alexamenos worships his God" was written, but an inscription underneath was added that said "Alexamenos is faithful"
There was already a misconception among Romans that Jews worshipped a donkey, so considering that Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism, I think that's why Christians were also mocked in this way.
Why would a Roman pagan know that detail of the Gospels as early as the 2nd century? It seems very unlikely to me. Roman graffiti is often very boisterous and crude. Christians were almost certainly seen as strange and a bit silly - not unlikely how new religious movements that pop up now look ridiculous to us. Religions are, after all, very fanciful in their claims.
There was a talking donkey somewhere in the old testement. Waaaayyyy back in Genesis I believe. His rider was hitting him because he wouldn’t keep going and he basically told the rider go f**k himself.
Why did my post about the old testament talking donkey get deleted? I can’t write the F word using asterisks for letters in a totally nonderogatory way but someone on the main thread can literally spell out the S word🤔🙄
It makes sense. After all, instead of entering Jerusalem during Passover as a conquering hero riding a warhorse, he rode a donkey through the gates. The Romans, who despised Christian values, would have easily turned this into a joke. I guess even in the first century AD, people had their CircleJerk Subreddits.
That isn't the reference. Egyptian writers from the Hellenistic period often depicted Yahweh as a donkey-headed god. It isn't that strange when you think of Egyptian gods in general.
Roman guy knows Jesus rode a Donkey and was Crucified. He knows that Judea is basiclly Egypt and Egyptians give their gods animal heads. Therefore Jesus had a Donkey head. Makes perfect sense to a Roman given their information and world view, imo.
I think it's just intentional mocking. They know he wasn't a donkey(there were many ways non-Christian Romans tried insulting Jesus, like saying he was the illegitimate child of a Roman soldier), but they think it would be insulting to Christians to draw their God with the head of an animal, especially a donkey, a common working animal.
Whoever wrote this inscription wasnt good at spelling 😅😅. The word is correctly written as : CEBETAI from the greek word CEBOMAI (ΣΕΒΟΜΑΙ). CEBETE AND CEBETAI had the same pronunciation but the second is grammatically correct.
Fascinating! I wish i knew more about it. Like, how certain are you about the misspelling? Do you know what dialect of Greek it is? I don't think he says the region and time period in this clip and i would assume there was variety, even if there was 1 or more standardized spelling systems used in formal settings. But assuming it is a mistake, do your think its one the writer could have corrected but they didn't notice - like a typo? Or is it one they didn't realize was a mistake? I'd be curious if it reflect the way the person speaks. Legit curious, fyi
@@friend_trilobot i am 100% sure cause i have a Bachelors in latin and ancient greek . No, from the Words I see It Is not possibile to pinpoint a specific dialect , it is most probably Koine Greek regarding the era. Greek at that time had dialectical differences, though to a lesser extend than in 500 bc for example. Though the one thing that I can say is that Ε in general and ΑΙ (at the end) of the word had the same pronunciation. So our friend here just wrote it as he pronounced it. The word ΣΈΒΕΤΑΙ ( 3d singular in present) is written only with ΑΙ and definitely not with the Ε its a grammatical rule.
i feel it was probably a child lol. yes there have been many, many illiterate people through the ages, but this image screams to me "alexander smells" with half the letter written backwards, stink lines, written on lined paper
No. The reason this happened, was because it was prophecied in the old testament Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
This isnt evidence to indicate that christians always believed in the divinity of christ. This inscription is dated to around the end of the 3rd century. Even if it came at the end of the second it still would be evidence of that.
I feel like all this comments are talking about the trolling because it happened a long time ago but I feel like this “graffiti” along with Tertullian’s account shows how people of that time suffered religion persecution pretty badly and in all this years we still are doing that. I wonder if in the distant future, the insults and persecutions of today will be funny to people like this inscription is funny to us now (I do not take part in any religion whatsoever)
@@Epistolary8it is a small part of a greater verse, John 15:18-27. Read it, maybe you’ll understand the context behind him posting this quote. Or not, many biblical verses and parables go right over the heads of secularists in my experience.
Jesus’s final entry into Jerusalem was on a donkey, He entered the city triumphantly as a humble king. The donkey is the only animal with a cross on its back, really interesting🤔.
Justin Sledge recently made a video talking about possible development of the donkey headed description in Egypt as a result of Jewish accounts of the exodus rubbing the Egyptians the wrong way
this is interesting because it also shows how a crucifixion looked like. at that time cruxifions were still practized. Some historians had claimed that crucifions had a X-Form instead of a T-Form. so the T-Cross seems legit.
That is why this graffiti is used by some as evidence that Jesus actually existed. Because even his detractors can’t deny that a man who was crucified ended up spawning a whole religion.
Graffiti is amateur and personal art...and like all art...it communicates the thoughts of artist...this one is quite revealing as it provides social and cultural context about the perception of Christianity by some Romans at that time.
Is there a Greek pun between “only begotten” and “donkey begotten”. Given the fact that calling someone a donkey is an insult, it’s likely it’s just an insult it seems to me.
According to your buddy Doc Sledge from Esoterica, the Donkey-Headed being is a polemic levied by the ancient Egyptians against the Jews and possibly later the Christians in response to the Jewish narrative of the Exodus becoming really popular in Alexandria at the twilight of Egyptian independence around like 150-30 BC/BCE. As to why a donkey-head specifically, it's because they correlated the actions of the Jewish Yahweh and the Tyrian god Baal/Melqart with the evil god Set; god of foreigners, plagues, death, and destruction.
The mame on the back of a donkey is in the shape of a pronounced cross and he left on a cross. Matthew 27:50 in the King James Version reads: "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." God is working all things to glorify his son through him. Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.
Egyptian writers in the Hellenistic era (mostly priests) liked to depict Yahweh with a donkey's head. Interestingly, this implies that the graffiti-maker is aware of the Jewish origin of Christianity and that Alexamenos was probably following a form of Patripassianism.
@@andrewsuryali8540 interesting! maybe the graffiti-maker was a fellow believer, and was accusing Alexamenos of heresy in a humorous way. or maybe Alexamenos was a believer, and the graffiti-maker was ignorantly under the patripassianist belief. the world may never know, but that's a very interesting fact about the Hellenistic-era Egyptians!
In Romanian orthodoxy, the name for Jesus is Iisus, with double i. I heard stories the word isus (single i) sounded like the word for donkey either in Hebrew or another language from that time/area. Don’t know if there’s any truth to that. But many orthodox make fun of the neoprotestant cults in Romania for spelling the name as Isus, like they’re not true christians, they’re worshiping a donkey
Makes me think a bit of "Gerard Reve and the donkey trial", in which he was sued for blasphemy when he was joking that he was worshipping God through a donkey.
Hey, I can work out some of that inscription: Αλεξαμενος ?εβ(ο)ετε θεον. I'm currently learning Ancient Greek and my handwriting is way better than the person who wrote that.
donkeys were considered low creatures in rome. i'm not ruling out that it's some random animal like a jackal or horse, but it seems more likely that it's a donkey the less-than-lengthy ears may just be artistic license, it is the clear the graffiti artist isn't the most gifted engraver
This stems back to the Jews the Egyptians. Egyptians believed that Yahweh was Set. Set is often depicted with a donkey head. The Greeks later the Romans adopted Set into their pantheon and became Hephaestus. It was a common insult to both Jews and Christians back then to say their God was a desert dwelling demon god with a donkeys head. Some Greek writing say the cult of Hephaestus is big and Israel.
I get it. The lord of the lowest. They thought little of the people back then, so much so they likened the Christians to donkeys, fit only for servitude. Is what I take from it.
No it was an already established thing, they said it about the jews before christianity. It possibly has connections to a few egyptian things but sources would be needed.
I'm also very intrigued about the pervasiveness of Greek in Rome at the time. I know it was spoken by the upper classes, but Alexamenos also sounds very greek and it doesn't feel very upper class to draw graffiti.
Many literate Greeks slaved away in Rome as tutors and pedagogues. They also worked as secretaries and scribes for wealthy illiterate merchants. The way Roman society worked, it's entirely possible (even common) for an illiterate aristocrat to have a stable of very literate Greek slaves serving him. Notice that the literate heroes we have from the Roman era whose writings are passed down to us were very often equites. It's because they had to work their way up.
The early christians probably emphasized the “on a donkey entering jerusalem” prophecy from jewish culture jesus was supposed to have fulfilled. Which as far as prophecies go, is pretty easy.
@@LeadHerring a lot of people are mean not just Romans, each individual has their own way of shitting on someone else, i can call u a monkey for all i know as an insult, but at the same time monkey is also one of the most revered creature in other culture or religion.
No but the ancient world saw Donkeys as such, making Jesus' riding of one on palm Sunday an even more important show of love. The son of God, God himself rode the lowest animal.
It’s famously the earliest depiction of Jesus. I at least got shown it back in catholic Sunday school decades ago. I’m not sure why you need to add the question mark
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 67 | คู่เอก "นักรบ vs ทาเกียร์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eahGc1XmrEU/mqdefault.jpg)
Nothing transcends the ages like a spicy shitpost.
And a misspelled shitpost at that! He wrote CEBETE when it's spelled CEBETAI. Apparently trolls being barely literate is also universal.
@@rhov-anion True dat 😂
@@rhov-aniondid you just spell correct a Roman?
@@aaronmortimer1911yes, as we know their language, and if you compare it to proper literature, it's misspelled
@@rhov-anion "Romanes eunt domus" !
Trolling. The one thing no matter the time or culture we all get.
Justice as well. Don’t worry Roman, he’s coming on horse this time.
Donkey the lowest creature? It is has been the backbone of human civilization. The most underappreciated animals.
They're literally slaves. Do not glorify domestic animals.
And they're incredibly intelligent (which is why they're not very liked)
donkeys are the blue-collar workers of the animal kingdom
I’ll accept it as Christianity is an egalitarian religion
This is exactly the lesson i was bestowing upon humanity. I, Jesus of Nazareth, king of all Man, is equal to a donkey, just as every man is equal. From peasant to king. Their trolling, then, is indicative of a culture of judgement and belittling, and therefore, Rome had to fall.
This graffito is actually very significant, and highly undervalued.
The graffito is an anonymous person mocking another person’s religion in Greek. The person being mocked doesn’t have an aristocratic Roman name-no trinomen, no aristocratic spelling (Claudius is an aristocrat’s name, Clodius is not an aristocrat). He’s just a dude. It’s reasonable to assume that the writer of the graffito was of a similar social status.
Why is all of that so important? He wrote the graffito, and (implicitly) expected Alexandros (and their mutual acquaintances) to read it. That requires their circle to be able to read.
We currently see estimates of between a 3% to 8% literacy rate in different parts of the Roman Empire. Yet we are constantly encountering evidence of widespread literate graffiti on undisturbed walls of different buildings across the Empire, most notably in places like Pompeii and Herculaneum, where we have essentially a time capsule of the 1st century urban life in the Empire. Widespread literate graffiti requires a widespread level of literacy definitely higher than the current estimates suppose.
Contrary to popular belief, literacy wasn't a function of social status in the Roman era. Many Greek slaves were literate while their noble Roman masters were not. Additionally, this particular bit of graffiti was probably written by someone who would have been considered semi-literate at best. Someone else already commented that the writer spelled a word the way he thought it should sound instead of the way it should be spelled.
There were levels of literacy in the ancient world. Most people who knew Greek could probably read a sentence of less than seven words if written without particles. This is because writing at this time lacked word spacings and punctuation marks, so reading a long composition quickly turns into math problem-solving. The few people who could read more rarely could write, and the very few people who could write couldn't all compose.
When 3-8% is bandied around what is usually meant is the truly literate people who could read, write, and compose. These are the ones whose textual works passed down to us form the basis of our understanding of historical context. Alexamenos and his troll only had their legacies passed down to us thanks to archaeology.
Also, the assumption here is that Alexamenos needed to be able to read for this jab to make sense. Well, not really. All it would have taken was for Euthychus the pedagogue to come across it and tell his friends at the tavern. Alexamenos would find out the next day through the usual grapevine. He would also figure out right away that it must have been Andronichus the carpet seller's work because he's the only one who could write around here.
Since you're so adamant about using the word "graffito" to show off your erudition, how about deciding what it means? You've got it meaning both the inscription and the person who made it. So which is it?
Also, has it occured to you that the spelling might also be an intended insult, and not the guy's actual name?
Basically. Lots of assuming going on about history. Thanks to recorded history most people today think that before 1850 every person on earth and every civilization was a bloodthirsty maniac going around killing off people willy nilly. People don’t realize usually the war stuff gets recorded. Most the stuff in-between was never really written about too much.
Bro why is everyone writing a hyper analysis essay💀
He was an aristocrat, he just wrote one name because its shorter and natural.
Dude you’re an OG, seeing exactly which confusion you wanted to address by uploading a short linking to the video where you addressed it is so cunning and good for optics I respect it more than you know.
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I still feel like I haven’t cracked the code for good short videos!
@@ReligionForBreakfast I think this is good, straightforward longform informative content just doesn't tend to translate well to shorts.
I'd recommend looking at Miniminuteman for a channel on similar topics that tends to get a lot of shorts engagement
@@ReligionForBreakfastYou have. Their very informative and they don’t attempt to be like the rest of the overstimulating garbage most people see in a day
How is nobody talking about how this Troll’s name is unknown, while he unwittingly made Alex amenos a Famous Chad meme for all time.
I thought it was Jar Jar Binks being crucified for a second
Jar Jar Binks deserves to be crucified.
Further proof that Jar Jar is god
Darth plagis worships his god
And now my weekly tic has become singing "Our god is a donkey's head" to the tune of "Our God is an Awesome God".
He brays over heaven and earth
Jesus the Holy Lamb of God is above all.
I was in the lecture where someone asked the question that spawned this short!
I think it's ironic that a mocking depiction of Christ has lasted as a testament to how widespread throughout the empire Christianity became in such a short amountvof time.
I have wondered for a long time how Christianity could spread so quickly in the Greek-Roman world. (It was a question from a high school teacher that made me ponder it, she didn't really give any answer).
Lately, I have started to think that one of the main reasons why people in the area accepted Christianity so quickly, might have been that there are so many similar literary tropes in the stories about Jesus that we also find in Greek and Roman mythology about demigods, gods and heroes (and caesars) that became gods after their death. It seems the early Christians "wrapped" Jesus in myths/stories that were similar to parts of the myths people already knew.
Like Jesus walking on water, just like the Greek gods Orion, Poseidon and Hermes, changing water to wine like the Greek god Dionysius, healing the blind and raising the dead like the Greek god Asclepius.
Or Jesus being born of a human mother and with a god as a father, kind of similar to the Greek & Roman gods or/and heroes Romulus (and Remus), Asclepius, Ion, Helen, Julius Caesar. Or the eyewitnesses stories that he rose from the dead (disappearing body is also a part of the mythological apotheosis trope) and then ascended and after that was seen by his followers as a god, in many ways similar to the myths about Romulus, Asclepius, Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus.
It wasn't uncommon with such stories being told about Roman emperors after their death.
I believe there are other reasons too that made Christianity popular both among the rulers (after a while, that is) and also among the people (and the poor).
@@mailillThere is the fact that Greek Culture had already excepted the idea of God’s becoming human and doing great things, but alongside that you have the Greek religious understanding that there were unknown gods and the universal appeal of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life (which fit in well in Western Philosophy where sin was often viewed as separating man from true understanding, because he could not perceive the perfect form of things and what not.)
You forgot to mention the best part. "Alexamenos worships his God" was written, but an inscription underneath was added that said "Alexamenos is faithful"
Thats actually in the next chamber over
@@Will-fj9gy After looking it up... You're right, with it saying "ΑΛΕξΑΜΕΝΟϹ FIDELIS" - Interesting nonetheless, thanks for the correction!
More original than the modern memes
... or Jesus's triumph entry into Jeruselem on a donkey?
thats the only prominent donkey i rmbr.
There was already a misconception among Romans that Jews worshipped a donkey, so considering that Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism, I think that's why Christians were also mocked in this way.
Why would a Roman pagan know that detail of the Gospels as early as the 2nd century?
It seems very unlikely to me.
Roman graffiti is often very boisterous and crude. Christians were almost certainly seen as strange and a bit silly - not unlikely how new religious movements that pop up now look ridiculous to us. Religions are, after all, very fanciful in their claims.
There was a talking donkey somewhere in the old testement. Waaaayyyy back in Genesis I believe. His rider was hitting him because he wouldn’t keep going and he basically told the rider go f**k himself.
RIGHT THANK YOU
Why did my post about the old testament talking donkey get deleted? I can’t write the F word using asterisks for letters in a totally nonderogatory way but someone on the main thread can literally spell out the S word🤔🙄
It makes sense. After all, instead of entering Jerusalem during Passover as a conquering hero riding a warhorse, he rode a donkey through the gates. The Romans, who despised Christian values, would have easily turned this into a joke.
I guess even in the first century AD, people had their CircleJerk Subreddits.
That isn't the reference. Egyptian writers from the Hellenistic period often depicted Yahweh as a donkey-headed god. It isn't that strange when you think of Egyptian gods in general.
Roman guy knows Jesus rode a Donkey and was Crucified. He knows that Judea is basiclly Egypt and Egyptians give their gods animal heads.
Therefore Jesus had a Donkey head.
Makes perfect sense to a Roman given their information and world view, imo.
I think it's just intentional mocking. They know he wasn't a donkey(there were many ways non-Christian Romans tried insulting Jesus, like saying he was the illegitimate child of a Roman soldier), but they think it would be insulting to Christians to draw their God with the head of an animal, especially a donkey, a common working animal.
They made him Bojack Horseman 😂
Alexamenos is an absolute chad. Hope to meet him in heaven one day
Same.
Drawing your friend's savior as a donkey and being like "this you?" is hilarious. Bro was like "disrespectfully....roasted"
It’s wild lol
Homie Accidentally made Alex Amenos Famous too.
Lil bro made ancient wojaks
Whoever wrote this inscription wasnt good at spelling 😅😅. The word is correctly written as : CEBETAI from the greek word CEBOMAI (ΣΕΒΟΜΑΙ).
CEBETE AND CEBETAI had the same pronunciation but the second is grammatically correct.
The fact that this Roman troll is still being spellchecked almost 2000 years later is just hilarious! 😄
Fascinating! I wish i knew more about it. Like, how certain are you about the misspelling? Do you know what dialect of Greek it is? I don't think he says the region and time period in this clip and i would assume there was variety, even if there was 1 or more standardized spelling systems used in formal settings. But assuming it is a mistake, do your think its one the writer could have corrected but they didn't notice - like a typo? Or is it one they didn't realize was a mistake? I'd be curious if it reflect the way the person speaks. Legit curious, fyi
@@friend_trilobot i am 100% sure cause i have a Bachelors in latin and ancient greek . No, from the Words I see It Is not possibile to pinpoint a specific dialect , it is most probably Koine Greek regarding the era. Greek at that time had dialectical differences, though to a lesser extend than in 500 bc for example.
Though the one thing that I can say is that Ε in general and
ΑΙ (at the end) of the word had the same pronunciation. So our friend here just wrote it as he pronounced it. The word ΣΈΒΕΤΑΙ ( 3d singular in present) is written only with ΑΙ and definitely not with the Ε its a grammatical rule.
Just like the Tea Party/MAGA people with all their misspelled signs!? So funny!
i feel it was probably a child lol. yes there have been many, many illiterate people through the ages, but this image screams to me "alexander smells" with half the letter written backwards, stink lines, written on lined paper
Any possible connection to Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey ?
Maybe
No. The reason this happened, was because it was prophecied in the old testament
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Also interesting evidence that Christians had always believed in the crucifixion and the divinity of Christ (contrary to what Muslims claim)
This isnt evidence to indicate that christians always believed in the divinity of christ. This inscription is dated to around the end of the 3rd century. Even if it came at the end of the second it still would be evidence of that.
I feel like all this comments are talking about the trolling because it happened a long time ago but I feel like this “graffiti” along with Tertullian’s account shows how people of that time suffered religion persecution pretty badly and in all this years we still are doing that. I wonder if in the distant future, the insults and persecutions of today will be funny to people like this inscription is funny to us now
(I do not take part in any religion whatsoever)
Profound bro
funny. I didn't find it funny. I mean, it has like a no pants thing, but thats hardly funny.
Graffiti is not persecution, it's freedom of expression,
which religion likes to suppress in favour of church dogma.
@@r0ky_MReally? So can I go to your house and tag it? How about where you work? That ok? Your kids school ok? Where do YOU draw the line?
@@tribalismblindsthembutnoty124
Don't confuse damaging someone's property with your imaginary persecution.
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” - Jesus of Nazareth
Is that supposed to be inspiring, or…?
Is that supposed to be sarcastic, or…?
@@Epistolary8it is a small part of a greater verse, John 15:18-27. Read it, maybe you’ll understand the context behind him posting this quote. Or not, many biblical verses and parables go right over the heads of secularists in my experience.
Sounds like your god is a sado-masochist
"You god is a donkey's head" is such a monty python insult
Bros mocking bros since the beginning of times.
Donkey head was the later image of the god seth. Egyptians called outside "bad" gods as Seth, and drew them as donkey headed.
Jesus’s final entry into Jerusalem was on a donkey, He entered the city triumphantly as a humble king. The donkey is the only animal with a cross on its back, really interesting🤔.
Justin Sledge recently made a video talking about possible development of the donkey headed description in Egypt as a result of Jewish accounts of the exodus rubbing the Egyptians the wrong way
R/atheism is older than you’d think
He is thicc af tho
There was definitely leavening in that cake
this is interesting because it also shows how a crucifixion looked like. at that time cruxifions were still practized. Some historians had claimed that crucifions had a X-Form instead of a T-Form. so the T-Cross seems legit.
Well they... Certantly did not have the last laugh... Didn't they? 😅
Insult aside, i wonder how old was this image? I wish he actually gave an approximate date.
IIRC it's dated to the earlier 200s, but take that with a grain of salt because I genuinely can't remember where I heard that from
Back in the 90s I was in a famous crucifixion
Our God is a Donkey's head
He neighs from Heaven on high
With wisdom, power and hay,
Our God is a Donkey's head!
at least it's better than goat's head which is worship by the Satanists. 😅
Do donkeys neigh? Don't they honk instead?
@@andrewsuryali8540 it occurred to me after I wrote that that it might have been better to go with "bray"
why did people hate donkeys so much. they’ve done so much for humanity.
This graffiti might be even older than the Gospels themselves.
That is why this graffiti is used by some as evidence that Jesus actually existed. Because even his detractors can’t deny that a man who was crucified ended up spawning a whole religion.
@@LDogSmiles Most non believers accept Jesus existed. His divinity is what is dismissed.
@mikeboyd-og1sh ???
@mikeboyd-og1sh ok
I’m going to need to use that one sometime😂
one of the only depictions of Christ to get his cake spot on
Bringing this one back
great content Doc_love the short video format
Donkey is still an insult in Greece.
Redditers have a proud and storied history it seems
Why is this so funny? 🤣
Look up the back of a donkey. Like it's back and fur pattern. Go ahead, I'll wait
Will be interesting for future humans to find Anti-Scientology depictions in 2 millennia
Jesus doesn’t need the approval of anyone. Respect.
Graffiti is amateur and personal art...and like all art...it communicates the thoughts of artist...this one is quite revealing as it provides social and cultural context about the perception of Christianity by some Romans at that time.
I love this thing so much lol. Wish I could tell the og artist that his shade is still hitting
Alexamenos is a Chad
Why is he caked up tho
Catching me unwise in ramadan
who cares@@luanasari5161
As someone who struggles with stick figures, I love that this sloppy graffiti shitpost has survived for a couple of thousand years.
At least he gave Jesus that cake
BRING IT BACK
Is there a Greek pun between “only begotten” and “donkey begotten”. Given the fact that calling someone a donkey is an insult, it’s likely it’s just an insult it seems to me.
I want it as a shirt
Even back then people knew Jesus was God
According to your buddy Doc Sledge from Esoterica, the Donkey-Headed being is a polemic levied by the ancient Egyptians against the Jews and possibly later the Christians in response to the Jewish narrative of the Exodus becoming really popular in Alexandria at the twilight of Egyptian independence around like 150-30 BC/BCE. As to why a donkey-head specifically, it's because they correlated the actions of the Jewish Yahweh and the Tyrian god Baal/Melqart with the evil god Set; god of foreigners, plagues, death, and destruction.
why are donkeys looked down upon? they are so cool
The mame on the back of a donkey is in the shape of a pronounced cross and he left on a cross. Matthew 27:50 in the King James Version reads:
"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."
God is working all things to glorify his son through him.
Ephesians 1:10
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.
was "donkey" some sort of mistranslation or pun or something? what would lead to the confusion of thinking Christians worshipped a donkey's head?
Maybe Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey
Egyptian writers in the Hellenistic era (mostly priests) liked to depict Yahweh with a donkey's head. Interestingly, this implies that the graffiti-maker is aware of the Jewish origin of Christianity and that Alexamenos was probably following a form of Patripassianism.
@@andrewsuryali8540 interesting!
maybe the graffiti-maker was a fellow believer, and was accusing Alexamenos of heresy in a humorous way. or maybe Alexamenos was a believer, and the graffiti-maker was ignorantly under the patripassianist belief. the world may never know, but that's a very interesting fact about the Hellenistic-era Egyptians!
In Romanian orthodoxy, the name for Jesus is Iisus, with double i. I heard stories the word isus (single i) sounded like the word for donkey either in Hebrew or another language from that time/area. Don’t know if there’s any truth to that.
But many orthodox make fun of the neoprotestant cults in Romania for spelling the name as Isus, like they’re not true christians, they’re worshiping a donkey
Makes me think a bit of "Gerard Reve and the donkey trial", in which he was sued for blasphemy when he was joking that he was worshipping God through a donkey.
Hey, I can work out some of that inscription: Αλεξαμενος
?εβ(ο)ετε θεον. I'm currently learning Ancient Greek and my handwriting is way better than the person who wrote that.
well, it WAS scratched on plaster... didn't exactly have the luxury of a pencil yet
@@b1battledroid882 True. I also have the advantage that I can type with a Polytonic keyboard on my PC.
I thought that was Bojack Horseman lol
Are we sure that's a donkey? Looks more like a horse to me. I mean, where are the long ears?
I thought more jackal myself but its ears are rounded and its mouth sort of segmented off to indicate the white patch.
donkeys were considered low creatures in rome. i'm not ruling out that it's some random animal like a jackal or horse, but it seems more likely that it's a donkey
the less-than-lengthy ears may just be artistic license, it is the clear the graffiti artist isn't the most gifted engraver
Dominic the Xmas donk ee
It is a MEME!
Scapedonk
And people today still treat christian the same way that they did two-thousand years ago. Oh how people have learned
Uuh no not even close. The 1500 years of christians violently suppressing people kinda stopped that.
I'm totally using this. 😂
Probably means nothing, but every donkey has a cross on its back. Check it out. It’s quite remarkable.
I mean, if Joseph isn’t the dad…
was this the first ever soyjack meme?
Looks like Bojack on the cross
Mateo 21: 5
amazing, you're doing shorts! :)
W Alexamenos
Realizing that if Christians can make the cross their symbol, they could've also owned the donkey as well
Donkey Head God is an awesome band name.
make a video about anti-christian rhetoric in the talmud
I show this in my art history 101 course. It always gets a laugh.
This stems back to the Jews the Egyptians. Egyptians believed that Yahweh was Set. Set is often depicted with a donkey head. The Greeks later the Romans adopted Set into their pantheon and became Hephaestus. It was a common insult to both Jews and Christians back then to say their God was a desert dwelling demon god with a donkeys head. Some Greek writing say the cult of Hephaestus is big and Israel.
I get it. The lord of the lowest. They thought little of the people back then, so much so they likened the Christians to donkeys, fit only for servitude. Is what I take from it.
No it was an already established thing, they said it about the jews before christianity. It possibly has connections to a few egyptian things but sources would be needed.
@Will-fj9gy well I'm just speculating and grasping at straws.
On the back of which animal did Jesus enter in to Jerusalem.
I remember reading that nearby that inscription there is one added later which stated “Aleximenos is faithful”
What an odd thing to say. Was it due to something specific, or was it just a random insult?
random insult
@@Catho. Ah, thanks. :)
Might have to do with Jesus riding a donkey on his way to Jerusalem
@@geeljire9247 Hm. That's an interesting thought. Yeah, it could. I guess I don't get it because I don't see anything wrong with donkeys. :)
@@Serai3 It’s just used as an insult by some people, like dog or monkey.
It says “Romans go home”
I'm also very intrigued about the pervasiveness of Greek in Rome at the time. I know it was spoken by the upper classes, but Alexamenos also sounds very greek and it doesn't feel very upper class to draw graffiti.
Many literate Greeks slaved away in Rome as tutors and pedagogues. They also worked as secretaries and scribes for wealthy illiterate merchants. The way Roman society worked, it's entirely possible (even common) for an illiterate aristocrat to have a stable of very literate Greek slaves serving him. Notice that the literate heroes we have from the Roman era whose writings are passed down to us were very often equites. It's because they had to work their way up.
Jesus was crucified for our sins
How early is it?
it was made around 200 AD
Wow. I guess you can't say anything anymore without offending someone... wait... 😂
Had this been dated?
The beginning of the 3rd centure according to the wiki page but maybe a little bit earlier.
W art
Probably because of Palm Sunday
The early christians probably emphasized the “on a donkey entering jerusalem” prophecy from jewish culture jesus was supposed to have fulfilled. Which as far as prophecies go, is pretty easy.
There is no such thing as "lowest creature "
Donkeys are great, Romans are just mean
@@LeadHerring a lot of people are mean not just Romans, each individual has their own way of shitting on someone else, i can call u a monkey for all i know as an insult, but at the same time monkey is also one of the most revered creature in other culture or religion.
@@LeadHerring et tu donkey
@@black_thunder2159
you're a cow!
hindus: 😀👍
No but the ancient world saw Donkeys as such, making Jesus' riding of one on palm Sunday an even more important show of love. The son of God, God himself rode the lowest animal.
Wait so Jesus didn't enter the city untop of a Donkey like every movie depicts? Lol
Where did the stereotype come from?
It’s famously the earliest depiction of Jesus. I at least got shown it back in catholic Sunday school decades ago. I’m not sure why you need to add the question mark
Paganism trolled the Christians
Now the greatest pagan tradition is converting to Christianity ✝️