Archaeologists have discovered a crucial artifact in a 3rd-century Roman grave that provides evidence of early Christianity north of the Alps. The artifact was found in grave near Frankfurt in Germany and is a silver amulet known as the “Frankfurt Silver Inscription”.
It dates back to approximately 230-270 CE and predates previously known Christian artifacts from this region by nearly 50 years.
Publicised by the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum last week, the inscription has been analysed and studied for years before finally being released to the public this month.
The Frankfurt silver inscription is an 18-line Latin engraving on silver foil. It was found enclosed within a small silver amulet.
The silver amulet was uncovered during the 2017-2018 excavation of a Roman cemetery in the Heilmannstraße area, once part of the ancient Roman city of Nida.
This burial ground, containing 127 graves, was remarkable for its unusually high proportion of inhumation burials, a practice rarely observed in other Roman cemeteries in Frankfurt. Among the graves, one stood out: the burial of a man aged 35 to 45 years.
Alongside grave goods such as an incense burner and pottery, archaeologists found a small rolled silver foil beneath the man’s chin. Likely worn on a ribbon around his neck, the amulet is identified as a phylactery—a container intended to safeguard its wearer through its contents.
The museum explained in a press release, translated from German, that the artifact was found in a third-century grave in Hesse, Germany, in what was once the former Roman city of Nida.
The inscription begins with “In the name of Saint Titus, Holy, holy, holy! In the name of Jesus Christ, God’s Son!”.
It also calls for the amulet to protect “the man who gives to the will the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son. The heavenly, the earthly and the underground, and every tongue confess (to Jesus Christ).”
The press release called the artifact “one of the most important testimonies of early Christianity worldwide.”
The statement added: “So far, there has been no such early, authentic proof of pure Christianity north of the Alps. All [other] finds are at least around 50 years younger.”
“There are references from historiography to the first Christian groups in Gaul and perhaps also in the province of Upper Germania in the late second century. However, certain evidence of Christian life in the northern Alpine regions of the Roman Empire generally only comes from the fourth century AD.
“These 18 lines, experts agree, will enormously enrich previous research on the spread of Christianity and the late period of Roman rule on the right of the Rhine.”
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