The Alexamenos graffito is a piece of Roman graffiti scratched in plaster on the wall of a room near the Palatine Hill in Rome, which has now been removed and is in the Palatine Hill Museum. It may be meant to depict Jesus; if so, it competes with an engraved gem as the earliest known pictorial representation of the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is hard to date, but has been estimated to have been made c. 200. The image seems to show a young man worshipping a crucified, donkey-headed figure. The Greek inscription approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships god," indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a Christian named Alexamenos. It may be a young Christian boy being mocked by his schoolmates for his worship, hence the donkey head on the one being crucified. The point of the picture being that in spite of the persecution the boy is not ashamed; he is faithful, as evidenced by his outstretched arms worshiping the crucified god.
Note: See Wikipedia for more details. Here's the actual graffiti.
