Alexamenos graffiti

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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pakeha
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Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 9:48 pm

Re: Alexamenos graffiti

Post by pakeha »

PhilosopherJay wrote:Hi pakeha,

Thanks. Its always nice to get positive feedback.

I have been skeptical of the Alexamenos graffiti for a few months, since reading Gunnar Samuelson's book about crucifixions and how varied the practice could be.
I think reading the article in peeusmega9's opening post by L.L. Wellborn got me to look more closely at the image. It was the fact that Wellborn doesn't address the issue of how we know this is a crucifixion image, but accepts it without discussion, that made me think more about it.

The more closely I looked the more problems I saw with the interpretation.

Incidentally, I noted in the last post that the "rope" appeared to be merely a wall crack. I found a good high resolution picture of the area that confirms that it is not a rope hanging from the horizontal line/crossbeam. It is definitely a simple wall crack. Here is the picture:

Image

Understanding this, allows us to see the image as being much further from the crucifixion amulet image and therefore much further from a crucifixion image.

Warmly,

Jay Raskin [ . . . ]
No worries, Jay.
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