What’s the earliest depiction of the crucifixion?

The earliest depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion doesn’t, in fact, come from a Christian source. It is known as Alexamenos Graffito and, as the name suggests, it’s a piece of graffiti. It was found near Rome’s Palatine Hill and is dated sometime between 1st and 3rd Century:

The text underneath the picture says in Greek “Alexamenos worships [his] God”. The picture itself shows Jesus on a cross with a donkey’s head, with another person on the left (presumably “Alexamenos”) raising his hand in worship. It’s clear that this was written by someone who knew Alexamenos and wanted to mock him and his Christian faith.

But why is Christ drawn with a donkey’s head? Well, in the early centuries it was a commonly asserted by Pagans that Christians worshipped donkeys, a practice known as Onolatry. The ecclesiastical writer, Tertullian, mentions the genesis of this slur against the Christians:

… for some among you have dreamed that our god is an ass’s head, an absurdity which Cornelius Tacitus first suggested… He relates that the Jews, in their migration in the desert, when suffering for want of water, escaped by following for guides some wild asses, which they supposed to be going in quest of water after pasture, and that on this account the image of one of these animals was worshipped by the Jews. From this, I suppose, it was presumed that we, too, from our close connection with the Jewish religion, have ours consecrated under the same emblematic form.
– Tertullian, Ad Nationes (AD 197)

If you’d like to know more about the Alexamenos Graffito , I’d invite you to watch the following video from Symbolon which examines the shocking nature of the Christian worship of God crucified: