Alexamenos Grafitto

I was looking for some nice vulgar grafitti from Pompeii, but I came upon a different kind of "vulgarity". Perhaps you have seen this elsewhere, it is very famous evidence for the reception of Christianity in 1st century Rome. This is the Alexamenos graffito (also known as the graffito blasfemo) inscribed on a wall near the Palatine hill in Rome. It is generally thought to be the earliest known pictorial representation of the crucifixion of Jesus. Apparently two slaves (or otherwise "lowly" individuals), one of which was Christian (the Alexamenos guy), got into a heated argument about the new faith, and the non-Christian put this up with the Greek words: "Alexamenos respects God." Greek was pretty much the second language spoken in Rome, but I don't recall any other Greek grafitti (I am sure there are, just not well-known ones). Tracy, I know this has very little to do with your original question, but I just wanted to share with you this famous evidence that predates even the earliest persecution of the Christians.---EM.