Alexamenos Worships His God
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 29). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook record title: Donkey-headed Christian-god caricatures: Alexamenos and Onocoetes.
Workbook assessment: Plausible
Date or witness: Tertullian’s reports c.197 CE; Alexamenos graffito late 2nd–early 3rd century CE
Region: Roman Empire; surviving graffito from Rome
Workbook date-sort bounds: 175 CE to 235 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
A donkey-like Christian god appears in informal caricature. Alexamenos is a surviving visual witness to the broader trope.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Tertullian reports a paid arena performer publicly displaying an Onocoetes image and describes citywide talk. His two accounts concern the same display; the Roman graffito is a separate material witness.
What remains uncertain
A plausible shared trope, not proven direct copying of one drawing. Tertullian is a polemical witness; the crowd’s class and the display’s city are uncertain. Numeric bounds are only a broad sorting envelope.
Candidate-index family 17: Donkey-headed Christian-god caricatures: Alexamenos and Onocoetes
The workbook groups records 29 here and rates the family Plausible. This is a research shortlist, not proof of an independently established meme family.
Dated evidence: Tertullian’s reports c.197 CE; Alexamenos graffito late 2nd–early 3rd century CE
Region: Roman Empire; surviving graffito from Rome
Shortlist uncertainty: A plausible shared trope, not proven direct copying of one drawing. Tertullian is a polemical witness; the crowd’s class and the display’s city are uncertain. Numeric bounds are only a broad sorting envelope.
Workbook revision note: Reframed as a wider circulating idea, supported by a contemporary report of public uptake
Image: this photograph shows the Alexamenos graffito, one visual witness within the broader record title. Photograph by Justin Benttinen, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Delivery derivatives use the same license.
