The "Christianos Graffito" discovered in Pompeii (1862)

[Peter Kirby]

Peter Head's comment seems typical here:

https://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blo ... ot-as.html

Yes - because it would have been undeniably Christian evidence with secure dating; whereas Pompeii has secure dating and the evidence is open to divergent interpretations

To which Eric Rowe comments:

There's also a graffito at Pompeii that uses the word Christianos

Without any further reply. But Peter Head is thinking more directly of all the other claims that have been made:

NB I haven't read Bruce Longenecker's book on the crosses in Pompeii

a SATOR square in Pompeii (part of the ambiguous evidence for Christian presence), and they found a different square in Smyrna

This is the same kind of "guilt by association" heuristic reasoning that led me to pass over the graffito without giving it much consideration. Given the number of somewhat strange claims being made, their somewhat fabulous nature, and knowing the skepticism of others regarding such claims, looking into it further didn't seem worthwhile.

I wouldn't know if the evidence was there (regarding this grafitto in particular) because I was relying on this kind of social proof to suggest that the evidence could be there before looking into it. No doubt many fall into this kind of habit.

[Peter Kirby]

This makes the date of this graffito 179/180.

Greg Synder wrote a paper identifying a different inscription as Christian / Valentinian and second century.

https://www.academia.edu/2702572/A_Seco ... Via_Latina

Based upon detailedpaleographical arguments, Margherita Guarducci placed it in the Antonine period.[6] Angelo Coppo also places the inscription in the second century.[7] Peter Lampe, who bases his reconstruction o a Valentinian communityon the Via Latina largely on this inscription and on that of Flavia Sophe, also follows Guarducci in accepting the Antonine date of NCE 156.[8]

6. Margherita Guarducci, “Iscrizione cristiana del II secolo nei Musei Capitolini,” in Bullettino della commissione archeologica comunale di Roma 79 (1963–64): 117–34,ollowed by “Valentiniani a Roma,” and “Ancora sui valentiniani a Roma,” Römische Mitteilungen
81 (1974): 341–43.

7. Angelo Coppo, “Contributo all’interpretazione di un’epigrae greca cristiana deiMusei Capitolini,” Rivista di archeologia cristiana 46 (1970): 138.

8. Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First TwoCenturies, trans. Michael Steinhauser, ed. Marshall Johnson (Minneapolis, MN: For-tress Press, 2003), 299–300.

Nevertheless, the relatively narrow window of time during which these particularletterorms were in use allows for more than normal confidence where dating is concerned

The results from Naples point in the same direction as the Roman evidence: inscriptions featuring these letter forms date almost exclusively from the first or second century. In sum, Guarducci’s case for a second-century date for NCE156 is stronger than ever.

Both of these men seem to have presented themselves as philosophers and it may be the case that the Valentinian Christians behind NCE 156 thought of themselves in similar terms, as a philosophical group and not as a religio non licita. Furthermore, as I will argue in what follows, the Christian character of NCE 156 would have been clear to insiders, but not glaringly obvious to someone unfamiliar with the theology of the group who commissioned the inscription.

I suggest that while the people who commissioned and displayed this inscription were indeed Christians with Valentinian tendencies, they were fully aware of the conventions of Greek funeral epigrams and crafted this inscription in light of these con-ventions. I will argue that the inscription is best understood as a funeral epigram commemorating the death of a Valentinian Christian, not as a “baptismal inscription.”

In light of these observations should NCE 156 still be regarded as aChristian inscription? Several reasons to affirm its Christian character maybe given. The chief reason remains the language of “praising the father and glorifying the son.” One might conceivably praise a father for rear-ing a promising child, now untimely dead, but the phrase “praising the father and glorifying the son” is exceedingly difficult to reconcile with the established patterns of funeral rhetoric.

Moreover, the vocabulary of NCE 156 sits most comfortably within a Christian ambit. The accusative object with πεινάω is unusual: the earliest attestation of this usage is found in Matt 5.6. The use of “truth” (ἀληθεία) in line 4 is difficult to understand from the standpoint of a tragic reading. The term is quite rare, at least among the funeral inscriptions. We encounter it only once in Peek’s collection (565.1), where a certain Agelaos is said tohave “lived with truth” (μετ᾽ ἀληθείας ζήσαντα). “Flow” (ῥύσις) does not occur even once in Peek. However, both terms fit easily with a Christianreading: ἀληθεία occurs frequently in Christian texts, Johannine literature in particular, as in John 1.17 (“Grace and truth came through JesusChrist”), or John 4.24 (“God is spirit and those who worship him mustworship in spirit and in truth”). Water imagery and language of fowingis also found, as in John 7.38 (“Whoever believes in me, from his heart will flow [ῥέω] streams of living water”), or John 4.14 (“Whoever drinks of the water that I give will never thirst again, but the water I will give will become in him a spring of water [πηγὴ ὕδατος] bubbling up to eternallie”). This latter passage, which occurs in the context of Jesus’ conversa-tion with the Samaritan woman at a well, resonates with ῥύσις, especially with the restoration of πηγή at the beginning of the line. We know that Valentinus and Valentinians (e.g., Heracleon) after him were quite enam-ored of the Gospel of John, so the presence of Johannine vocabulary in NCE 156 may be taken as support for the claim that the inscription is Valentinian in character.

[Peter Kirby]

This makes the date of this graffito 179/180.

Greg Synder wrote a paper identifying a different inscription as Christian / Valentinian and second century.

Greg Snyder argues similarly regarding the Flavia Sophe inscription:

https://www.academia.edu/2702854/The_Di ... ew_Results

Translation found here:

https://culminationofwisdom.org/2022/01 ... via-sophe/

You were filled with longing for the father’s light,
My sister, my spouse, my Sophe.
Now, anointed with holy immortal chrism in the baths of C(hr_s)t,
Be quick to view the divine faces of the aeons,
The great angel of the great council, the true Son.
You made your way into the bridal chamber and made an undying ascent
Into the breast of the Father.

[Peter Kirby]

The Flavia Sophe inscription in Greek, which has abbreviation by contraction.

1 Φῶς πατρικὸν ποθέουσα, | σύναιµε, σύνευνε Σόφη µου,3 Λουτροῖς χρεισαµένη Χ(ριστο[?])ῦ | µύρον ἄφθιτον, ἁγνόν,5 Αἰώνων ἔσπευσας ἀθρῖ|σαι θεῖα πρόσωπα,7 Βουλῆς τῆς µεγάλης µέγαν | ἄνγελον, ὑϊὸν ἀληθῆ.9 Ἰς ν]υµφῶνα µολοῦσα καὶ εἰς | [παστ]οὺς ἀνοροῦσα11 Ἄφθαρτο]ς πατρικοὺς κα[ὶ . . | . . . . . . ον ἐστ[εφα]ν̣ώ[θης]13 Σ . . . . . . ]ΗΠΡΟ . . . Back Face1 Οὐκ ἔσχεν κοινὸν βιότου τέ|λος ἥδε θανοῦσα·3 κάτθανε καὶ ζώει καὶ ὁρᾷ | φάος ἄφθιτον ὄντως·5 ζώει µὲν ζωοῖσι, θάνεν δὲ | θανοῦσιν ἀληθῶς.7 γαῖα τί θαυµάζεις νέκυος | γένος; ἦ πεφόβησαι;

[Peter Kirby]

Alastair M. Small, "Urban, suburban and rural religion in the Roman period" (pp. 184-211) in The World of Pompeii (Routledge 2007), p. 194.

The evidence for Christianity in Pompeii and Herculaneum is of uneven value, and has been much debated, but when the more dubious arguments are discounted there remains a residue of archaeological documentation which should leave no doubt that there were Christians in Pompeii before the eruption. The clearest indication is a graffito scratched in charcoal on a wall of an inn situated on the via del Balcone Pensile (VII.11.11–14), which was recorded by several authorities at the time of the excavation in 1862 but had vanished within two years. The beginning and end are uncertain, but the word christianos clearly occurred on the fourth line.[68]

[68] M. Guarducci, “La più antica iscrizione col nome dei Cristiani”, Römische Quartalschrift, 1962, vol. 57, pp. 116–25. She transcribes the line as Bovios audi(t) christianos: Bovius listens to Christians, and interprets it as a malignant comment, suitable for the wall of a drinking house.

[Peter Kirby]

Using a description of what Mary Beard writes as "the criticism" loosely (emphasis added):

(1) “a figment of pious imagination”

The first is from the classical historian Mary Beard in "The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found" (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 302. Here the criticism is described as '[simply -ed.] dismissing a Christian reading of the graffito as “a figment of pious imagination,” although typically without carefully engaging the full range of relevant evidence.' Elsewhere the author is described as "open to the possibility that Christians were in the city of Pompeii, but do not include the Christianos graffito as evidence". It might be added that Mary Beard has produced historical documentaries which include the martyrdom of Perpetua.

The whole comment from Mary Beard on the graffito can be read in a single sentence with no footnote:

Were there Christians in Pompeii? By 79 it is not impossible. But there is no firm evidence for their presence, except for an example of a common Roman word game. This is one of those clever, but almost meaningless, phrases which read exactly the same backwards and forwards. It also turns out to be (almost) an anagram of PATER NOSTER (‘OUR FATHER’) written twice over, as well as two sets of the letters A and O (like the Christian ‘Alpha and Omega’). Some of the later examples of the same game do seem to have Christian connections. This one may too ... or it may not. The charcoal graffito which was said to include the word ‘Christiani’, but faded almost instantly, is almost certainly a figment of pious imagination. There is stronger evidence for the presence of Jews. No synagogue has been unearthed. But there is at least one inscription in Hebrew, a few possible references to the Jewish bible, including the famous reference to Sodom and Gomorrah (p. 25), and a sprinkling of possibly Jewish names — not to mention that kosher garum (p. 24).

There is no "criticism" here, just mere claim. Wayment and Grey are certainly correct that Beard in this paragraph is "simply dismissing" and does so "typically" (which is not a slight against Beard but simply an observation about how it is fairly typical that reactions to the graffito proceed this way) "without carefully engaging the full range of relevant evidence." Whatever credibility Beard may have otherwise and whatever Beard may have been thinking about when writing this claim, speculating about Beard's authority and inner thoughts is unproductive. It's simply a fact that Beard's reference does not advance the discussion.

[Peter Kirby]

This second criticism is from the author Eric Moorman from his article "JEWS AND CHRISTIANS AT POMPEII IN FICTION AND FACTION." The author discusses the Christian inscription as follows:

p.68

The christianos inscription

One of the most frequently studied graffiti is that of christianos, a word that originally formed part of a longer text that faded shortly after its discovery in 1862, as it had been written with charcoal. Alfred Kiessling had apparently noticed it on the south western wall of the atrium of a house in the Vicolo del Balcone Pensile (VII 11, 11) in 1862. The story of the discovery and the documentation by Kari Zangemeister (CJL IV 679) and others contains a great deal of suppositions that make it rather suspect. In fact, probably no one ever saw it!

Moreover, the two transcriptions of the text show great differences, including the spelling of the word itself/ and it has been suggested that the word never actually existed. Giuseppe Fiorelli, who made a (third), unfortunately unpublished copy of the text, wanted to interpret christianos as the name of a wine. Margareta Guarducci, one of the leading experts in the field of ancient epigraphy, renowned within and beyond Catholic and scientific circles alike for her research on the tomb of S. Peter beneath the papal altar in S. Peter's cathedral, strives to read some Christian content into the texts and constructed the sentence as follows:

Bovios audi(t) christianos/s(a)evos o[s]ores
///
'Bovius listens to the Christians, those cruel haters/

albeit without explaining her reasoning.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... nd_Faction

We can start by agreeing (as described in more detail by Wayment and Grey) that the presentation by Karl Zangemeister (CIL IV 679) contains a great deal of suppositions that make it rather suspect. Zangemeister has indeed put a cloud of confusion over the whole subject by making the suppositions that Zangemeister does, even though Zangemeister indeed never saw it.

After mentioning transcriptions from Kiessling (one of those who saw it) and Zangemeister (who didn't see it), Moorman says "the two transcriptions of the text show great differences." Surely they do, and Zangemeister's transcription has no independent value because he didn't see it.

Like Beard, Moorman proceeds "without carefully engaging the full range of relevant evidence." If Moorman had undertaken a careful study, he would have gone beyond comparing transcriptions from Kiessling (who saw it at one point) and Zangemeister (who had not) when considering what to conclude based on the differences about what is reported. Moorman's discussion doesn't refer to Giulio Minervini at all, even though Minervini made his sketch of the inscription before Kiessling. Moorman's reference to Fiorelli as having a "third" (to the "two transcriptions" of Kiessling and Zangemeister) completely ignores the sketch provided by Minervini. Moorman provides an incredibly careless summary of the evidence.

Further indication that Moorman is careless (and that his discussion here has no value as scholarship) is the description that "Alfred Kiessling had apparently noticed it on the south western wall of the atrium of a house in the Vicolo del Balcone Pensile" when he was not the first or even the second archaeologist to see it. If Moorman had carefully read Guarducci's article instead of "simply dismissing" it, he would have easily been able to provide a more accurate summary in this regard.

Absolutely strange is the juxtaposition of "Giuseppe Fiorelli ... wanted to interpret christianos as the name of a wine" with "Margareta Guarducci ... strives to read some Christian content into the texts," given that the content here is the word christianos. Moorman's reckless indulgence of prior prejudice is made plain with the comments on Guarducci. Instead of engaging with Guarducci's article with any actual "criticism" of Guarducci, described by Moorman as "renowned within and beyond Catholic and scientific circles alike for her research on the tomb of S. Peter beneath the papal altar in S. Peter's cathedral," Moorman oddly claims that there was no "explanation of her reasoning" in the article that is expressly on the stated topic.

Moorman's unsubstantiated and sometimes bizarre claims (such as, "In fact, probably no one ever saw it!" and "without explaining her reasoning") contribute nothing to scholarship here.

[Peter Kirby]

Using a description of what Mary Beard writes as "the criticism" loosely (emphasis added):

(1) “a figment of pious imagination”

The first is from the classical historian Mary Beard in "The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found" (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 302. Here the criticism is described as '[simply -ed.] dismissing a Christian reading of the graffito as “a figment of pious imagination,” although typically without carefully engaging the full range of relevant evidence.' Elsewhere the author is described as "open to the possibility that Christians were in the city of Pompeii, but do not include the Christianos graffito as evidence". It might be added that Mary Beard has produced historical documentaries which include the martyrdom of Perpetua.

The whole comment from Mary Beard on the graffito can be read in a single sentence with no footnote:

Were there Christians in Pompeii? By 79 it is not impossible. But there is no firm evidence for their presence, except for an example of a common Roman word game. This is one of those clever, but almost meaningless, phrases which read exactly the same backwards and forwards. It also turns out to be (almost) an anagram of PATER NOSTER (‘OUR FATHER’) written twice over, as well as two sets of the letters A and O (like the Christian ‘Alpha and Omega’). Some of the later examples of the same game do seem to have Christian connections. This one may too ... or it may not. The charcoal graffito which was said to include the word ‘Christiani’, but faded almost instantly, is almost certainly a figment of pious imagination. There is stronger evidence for the presence of Jews. No synagogue has been unearthed. But there is at least one inscription in Hebrew, a few possible references to the Jewish bible, including the famous reference to Sodom and Gomorrah (p. 25), and a sprinkling of possibly Jewish names — not to mention that kosher garum (p. 24).

There is no "criticism" here, just mere claim. Wayment and Grey are certainly correct that Beard in this paragraph is "simply dismissing" and does so "typically" (which is not a slight against Beard but simply an observation about how it is fairly typical that reactions to the graffito proceed this way) "without carefully engaging the full range of relevant evidence." Whatever credibility Beard may have otherwise and whatever Beard may have been thinking about when writing this claim, speculating about Beard's authority and inner thoughts is unproductive. It's simply a fact that Beard's reference does not advance the discussion.

It's perhaps notable that Jaimie Gunderson, like Wayment and Grey, attempts to improve the sensibility of Mary Beard's one sentence comment by interpreting it more specifically (Inscribing Pompeii: A Reevaluation of the Jewish Epigraphic Data, p. 76):

Yet some recent scholars, including Mary Beard, have entirely dismissed the presence of the word “Christians” in the inscription as “almost certainly a figment of pious imagination.”

What Mary Beard said is not that specific but rather:

The charcoal graffito which was said to include the word ‘Christiani’, but faded almost instantly, is almost certainly a figment of pious imagination.

Where the subject of the sentence is the "charcoal graffito," where the account of the text of the graffito is that of Kiessling's "Christiani" (not mentioning either Fiorelli or Minervini), and where the comment emphasizes one supposed fact: that it "faded almost instantly" (which is not a fact at all).

In short, Mary Beard has been interpreted too charitably. Beard makes a claim similar to the one made by Moorman (who alleges that "no one ever saw it!"), without evidence, and in a way that is consistent with not having a full command of the relevant evidence.

[DCHindley]

Reminds me a bit of this sign painted on a wall in Pompeii:

Image of a gladiatorial scene:


Image of another gladiator scene:


Since they didn't have TV or radio for their sports statistics and game summaries, folks took it upon themselves to promote their favorite athletes, which in those days were Gladiators (more like modern mixed martial arts or "professional wrestling," to act out battles between types, not for witnessing grisly deaths - unless the right price is offered). The graffiti writer gave statistics of wins & losses on any wall that was available, usually using pieces charcoal. Despite being washed away after a season, the walls were covered with them, meaning that each year the messages evolved. The paid-for ads were another matter. They were painted in color, and many streets seem to be lined with closely spaced shops so these are better written, to distinguish "To find Asiaticus' Posca shop (Pompeii location), turn left at corner."

If what we are talking about here are common graffiti, they could say anything. Folks proclaim the unrequited love for this or that slave, others mock those persons for obsessing about someone who has paid no attention to them in real life. They loved caricatures of apparently well positioned local elites, often giving them super big noses like Dr Flutesnoot (Astro Boy TV cartoons from 1960s) or some of the characters in Doonsbury newspaper cartoons (always).

Could someone being mentioned, whether gladiator performer or love sick slave, have been named or at least given a promotional name resembling Christos (anointed victor) or Chrestus (good performer), I think is possible.

DCH

[DCHindley]

Reminds me a bit of these signs painted on a wall in Pompeii:

Image of a gladiatorial scene:


Image of another gladiator scene:


Since they didn't have TV or radio for their sports statistics and game summaries, folks took it upon themselves to promote their favorite athletes, which in those days were Gladiators (more like modern mixed martial arts or "professional wrestling," to act out battles between types, not for witnessing grisly deaths - unless the right price is offered). The graffiti writer gave statistics of wins & losses on any wall that was available, usually using pieces charcoal. Despite being washed away after a season, the walls were covered with them, meaning that each year the messages evolved. The paid-for ads were another matter. They were painted in color, and many streets seem to be lined with closely spaced shops so these are better written, to distinguish "To find Asiaticus' Posca shop (Pompeii location), turn left at corner."

If what we are talking about here are common graffiti, they could say anything. Folks proclaim the unrequited love for this or that slave, others mock those persons for obsessing about someone who has paid no attention to them in real life. They loved caricatures of apparently well positioned local elites, sometimes drawing them with big noses like Dr. Packidermus J. Elefun (Astro Boy TV cartoons from 1960s).



Sample of an abusive exchange between two street people:


Could someone being mentioned, whether gladiator performer or love sick slave, have been named or at least given a promotional name resembling Christos (anointed victor) or Chrestus (good performer)? I think this is possible.

In US, photographers were common enough during our civil war in the 1860s, who could create quite clear photos. I wonder why nobody ever just documented things like inscriptions by taking a photo? Maybe fewer photographers per 1,000 population in Italy in same general period. However, see Mr Magoo below.

DCH

PS: Mr Magoo was a time traveler!


Here is same image as a drawing:


The drawing is really distorted. The other drawings above may be no better!

Here is another image of possibly the same man, but from a different graffito:


For comparison, the "real" Mr Magoo:


Go Rutgers