An ancient skeleton and a silver artifact are helping to rewrite the history of Christianity’s spread across Europe. The remains, dated between 230 and 270 CE, provide the earliest “authentic evidence” of Christianity north of the Alps in Europe discovered to date.
The relics were found just outside the German city of Frankfurt at the site of a Roman town called Nida.
During the excavation of an entire Roman cemetery, archaeologists came across one grave that contained a skeleton with a small metal object on its neck. It was a silver amulet, no larger than 3.5 centimeters (over 1 inch) in size, that was probably once worn by the person on a ribbon as a necklace pendant.
Inside the amulet was a wafer-thin sheet of silver foil that had been rolled up like a cigarette. The 1,800-year-old object was too brittle to unroll, but they were able to decipher its contents using a 3D model created by computer tomography (CT) imaging techniques.
Their high-tech detective work revealed that the silver foil features 17 lines of text, which read as follows:
(In the name?) of St. Titus.
Holy, holy, holy!
In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God!
The lord of the world
resists to the best of his [ability?]
all seizures(?)/setbacks(?).
The god(?) grants well-being
Admission.
This rescue device(?) protects
the person who
surrenders to the will
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
since before Jesus Christ
bend all knees: the heavenly ones,
the earthly and
the subterranean, and every tongue
confess (to Jesus Christ).
As you can see, the words provide strong evidence that Christianity had reached this part of Europe many decades earlier than previously thought. It is also reasonable to assume that the ancient skeleton belonged to a person who identified as a Christian, although their exact identity remains unknown.
Christianity spread through Europe largely due to the influence of the Roman Empire. Starting as a small Jewish sect in the Roman province of Judea in the 1st century CE, the belief system slowly gained followers and influence through the empire amid plenty of persecution along the way. By the 4th century CE, Christianity became legalized and it eventually became the official state religion.
It was only around this time, the 4th century, that solid evidence of Christianity in Central Europe starts to emerge. There are some historical references to early Christian groups in Gaul and perhaps in Upper Germania around the late 2nd century, although they’re not always considered to be reliable.
However, the “Frankfurt Inscription” stands out as concrete evidence of Christianity’s presence in the region by the 3rd century CE, offering a rare glimpse into the faith’s early foothold in Central Europe.
“The ‘Frankfurt Inscription’ is a scientific sensation. Thanks to it, the history of Christianity in Frankfurt and far beyond will have to be turned back by around 50 to 100 years. The first Christian find north of the Alps comes from our city: we can be proud of this, especially now, so close to Christmas. The people involved have done a great job,” Frankfurt’s Lord Mayor Mike Josef said in a statement.
Frankfurt’s Head of Culture and Science, Dr Ina Hartwig, added: “This extraordinary find affects many areas of research and will keep scientists busy for a long time to come. It concerns archaeology as well as religious studies, philology and anthropology. Such an important find here in Frankfurt is really something extraordinary.”
