The Writing is on the Wall

In the year 1857, a piece of graffiti, now known as the Alexamenos Graffito, was discovered on the Palatine Hill in the centre of Rome when a building called the Domus Gelotiana was excavated.  Believed to date from the early third century A.D., the picture, etched or scratched in plaster, it depicts a human-like figure with a donkey looking head, attached to a cross.  To the left is Alexamenos, with one hand raised in prayer.  Below are scrawled the Greek words “ΑΛE XAMENOΣ ΣEBETE ΘEON,” which translates to “Alexamenos worships [his] God.”
 

 
Adjacent to this image is another inscription in a different hand which reads in Latin Alexamenos fidelis, meaning “Alexamenos is faithful” or “Alexamenos the faithful.”  It is argued that this second graffiti is a response by an unknown party to the mockery of Alexamenos in the image shown here.
 

 
This is the earliest image of a Christian associated cross yet uncovered.  Without doubt, this image was intended to mock both Alexamenos and his God,  and also all Christians, as the artist accuses Christians of practicing ‘onalatry,’  or ‘donkey-worship’, apparently a common taunt against Christians, at that time.  Historians have since uncovered many roots to this depiction leading back to Satanic Egyptian images.
 
https://www.hiskingdomprophecy.com/alexamenos/

 

Graffiti was the scourge of ancient Rome.
 
So you have visited Rome and thought the graffiti found all over the city is the work of modern vandals? You couldn't be more wrong. Originating from the Italian word 'graffiato' ('scratched'), the beginnings of 'modern' written scratchings which use words to express curses, slogans, love or hate are to be found in the graffiti of ancient Roman daily life which has been discovered not only in Rome but in all parts of the ancient Roman Empire, from Egypt to Greece and beyond.  
 
Ancient Roman graffiti artists, as well as being well-travelled and prolific, did seem to have some respect for ancient Roman architecture and art. They generally avoided defacing wall paintings and mosaics and most graffiti is found on columns and walls. Sometimes comic, often lewd, frequently giving information about times and locations of events - an ancient version of fly-posting - graffiti has become a rich source of information for historians about ancient Roman daily life, an indicator of how ordinary people thought and felt.
 
http://www.explore-italian-culture.com/a...-life.html