Professor Markus Scholz, an archaeologist at Goethe University Frankfurt, played a decisive role in deciphering the “Frankfurt Silver Inscription”, discovered rolled up in a silver amulet in a grave dating back to the 3rd century AD. The much-noticed find is the oldest material evidence to date of the presence of Christians north of the Alps. The Frankfurt Silver Inscription will greatly enrich existing research on both the spread of Christianity as well as the late period of Roman rule on the right bank of the Rhine. Here, Markus Scholz explains more about how the 18-line text was deciphered.
How does it feel to have played a key role as a scholar in such a decisive new discovery?
It’s truly a blessing to be able to work on a find like this. Of course, the whole thing was a team effort, starting with the meticulous excavation work done by the monument preservation team [Denkmalamt Frankfurt] all the way to the preliminary reading. I am incredibly lucky to be able to play a part in this discovery, which also fills me with humility. After all, the text has a dignity all of its own.
The media response was extremely high, news of the “Frankfurt Silver Inscription” could be found in many languages and channels. What was it like for you as a scientist to have such a spotlight shone on you?
That is somethingI still have to come to terms with. I was somewhat exposed because I had the honor of presenting the scientific part of our press conference. That being the case, it would not have been possible to decipher the text without teamwork.
The excavation took place in 2018. When exactly did you join the project?
The Monuments Office carried out the excavation with the greatest precision – which is now paying off with this grave, among others. While I was allowed to visit the “crime scene” from time to time, I have to admit that I don’t remember grave 134 specifically. I was able to see the amulet roll for the first time in 2018 at the Archaeological Museum’s restoration workshop, when the question focused on whether and how it could be unrolled.
What was your assessment at the time?
I was able to confirm that one would indeed expect a rolled-up text. But it quickly became clear that it would be impossible to physically unroll the scroll – which would have simply crumbled to pieces. Unfortunately, I can think of many sad examples where individual text scraps are glued to glass plates, but the most interesting passages did not make it. We didn’t want to risk that. I have the utmost respect for those involved, who first of all displayed patience and gathered information about alternative means of unlocking the text. The first attempt was an X-ray analysis in 2020, which yielded a segment-by-segment roll-up. It revealed text, but blurred and illegible.
This changed when the Leibniz Center for Archaeology (LEIZA) Mainz moved to its new location.
Followingthe establishment of this fascinating new tomograph and its scientific crew, it was possible to decipher the text in mid-2024. The computed tomography is so sharp that it produced a clear written image. As a result, the problem of deciphering no longer focused on the visibility of the writing, but the interpretation of the characters.
That is your specialty.
Indeed. It takes time and effort to decipher such passages, and there is only so much you can achieve on your own. I was able to recognize some passages straight away, others remain the subject of discussion until today. I work a lot with colleagues, including historian Hartmut Leppin. His network proved especially beneficial to me, because many questions related to this text extend far beyond the archaeology of the region and touch on disciplines like theology, liturgical history and the age of the Latin translations of the Pauline epistles.
As an archaeologist, you specialize in the Roman provinces. Was the find, which dates to the middle of the 3rd century, rather unusual for you?
“Small inscriptions” and graffiti can be found on all kinds of objects in the material unearthed; writing was after all widespread in the Roman provinces. However, this find stands out both because of its text and because of its context.
Was the Limes still in use at this time?
The third century was very turbulent. In fact, the Limes was abandoned in the second half of the 3rd century. At the time when this late burial ground existed at the gates of Nida, it was probably still in use.
So, you assume that the man was a Roman? Can anything be said about his heritage?
Generally speaking, many possibilities exist. He could have been a solitary traveler. Rome’s external borders, especially in the vicinity of such important military bases as Mainz, were zones characterized by extremely high mobility. “Strangers” were not uncommon. In terms of the type of burial, there is nothing unusual about this person either; he was buried no differently to the others in the cemetery. This does not indicate a stranger. What’s more, the amulet is also written in Latin and not the more commonly used Greek at the time.
How can one determine the man’s origins?
The archaeometric investigations, e.g. strontium isotope, are still ongoing. The latter could provide information about constancy of location or mobility.
Does this require an examination of the teeth or the bones?
Both. The deposits in the teeth tell a lot about childhood, when the teeth are formed. By contrast, deposits in the long bones, which are constantly being remodeled, bear the signature of the last place of residence. Having analyzed the skeleton, anthropologist Dustin Welper says we are dealing with a man who was around 35 to 40 years old when he died. The skeleton shows no particular abnormalities, no injuries or signs of wear and tear from hard work. This leads us to the cautious conclusion that the man was relatively well off and in comparatively good health. There is also no indication that he must have died a martyr.
Further, palynology will be carried out to detect whether foreign pollen indicate mobility.
Given the burial style, can we assume that the other dead were also Christians?
Absolutely not. Inhumation already existed in Republican Rome. In the early imperial period, there existed senatorial patrician families who buried their dead in the ground, following the age-old tradition, even if the majority practiced cremation in the 1st century AD. Over the course of history, such trends have changed time and time again, and also vary greatly from one region to another. However, this is neither directly and above all not exclusively related to religious trends. If that were the case, then other religions – such as Judaism – or philosophical currents would also come into question. Does an early Christian grave automatically have to be a body grave? Church father Augustine of Hippo believed that it was not the bodily burial that mattered, but the transcendental one, leaving a back door for all kinds of burials.
Was there previously no evidence for the presence of Christians in this region at this time?
There were textual references, but these are disputed. Like other early Christian authors, Irenaeus of Lyon, a Gallic bishop who wrote around 185 AD, attests to a pogrom in 177 AD in the Rhône valley and Lyon. His report concludes with an account of where Christ was already being worshipped throughout the known world, and he mentions that Christ was worshipped in Germania according to the same rite as in Libya and elsewhere. Other ancient authors, e.g. Tertullian, formulated it similarly. We are dealing here with a topos whose concrete source value is debatable.
No further evidence exists?
The next concrete evidence is provided by conciliar writers who mention a bishop of Cologne in 313 and one in Trier in 314. And the bishop in Trier mentions three predecessors without naming their terms of office. Even so, this only takes us back to the second half of the 3rd century. Archaeological structures (churches) and iconography can only be dated back with any certainty to the 4th century after Christianity had been tolerated by Constantine AD 313.
If there were bishops, there must also have been ordinary Christians.
It would not come as a surprise to learn that Christian communities existed here around 200 AD; after all, people did have 200 years to inform themselves, so to speak. The high level of cross-border mobility at the time is also well-known, people from very different cultures definitely met one another, but until now there was no proof. Now we have it – at least for a Christian. During the 3rd century, Christians still had to fear prosecution, so that they often hesitated to reveal their identity.
Was silver foil only used as a writing surface for ritual texts?
Precious metal sheets were no normal writing material, but used specifically for magical protective amulets. This practice first emerged in the middle of the 3rd century, and we have two examples right here on the right bank of the Rhine, in the former Limes region: the Frankfurt silver roll and the silver roll from Badenweiler near Freiburg, discovered in the 19th century. There was also negative magic, the so-called damage spell, which was written on lead and evidence of which can be traced back to Ancient Greece.
What did they use to write on the foil?
That remains elusive. The usual writing utensils for wax tablets were stylus made of metal or bone. In our case, the writing surface is tiny and the writing wafer-thin, i.e. near impossible to do with a metal point, which would inevitably have pierced the silver. I imagine something more like a toothpick, perhaps made of bone. The metal sheet is only as big as half a coaster.
Do we know if the person who wore the amulet also wrote the text?
The person who wrote the text had sources of information and obviously access to literature, as the quote from St. Paul shows, and was definitely a Christian. It is very likely that the amulet’s wearer knew what was in it. But we still know too little about him. The amulet from Badenweiler is different: It was written for a child, little Lucius, who then lost it in the thermal baths of Badenweiler, perhaps during swimming lessons, as we know from our own children ;-). If our amulet bearer also received his as a child, then the amulet could possibly be dated to the early third century – but that would be speculation.
When the image of the computer tomograph arrived, did you immediately recognize the significance of the find?
Actually, I did. When I opened the image file for the first time, I was blown away by the clarity of this 3D model. That was really exciting.
You hadn’t been able to recognize any text before?
You could see there was text, but you couldn’t decipher anything. The computer tomograph then put it into “plain language” if you will.
What was the first thing you were able to decipher?
“Qui se dedit voluntati domini”. And then this XP (Chi Rho), which is preceded by IH (Jota Eta) – the abbreviation for Jesus Christ. And not just once, but three times throughout the text and in all clarity. With a squiggly abbreviation above it, which also marks the nomina sacra. Then it was clear: there is no mistake. Then the only question was: does Christ stand alone? Or, as is often the case, in the context of pagan demons or alongside Jewish elements?
More gods might mean more protection.
Yes, the more gods, the better. The great political, social and economic uncertainties of the 3rd century resulted in a lot of momentum, people readjusted their beliefs and picked up and processed all sorts of things. Protective magic is, so to speak, a secondary utilization of regular cultic ideas. However, with this text we are certain that it’s purely Christian, which is exactly what makes it so extraordinary.
What was the first thing you did when you realized that?
I turned off the computer and turned my attention on something else. And then I looked at it again the next day.
Only to come to the same findings.
I couldn’t believe my own eyes for a while. Then I consulted my colleagues, Carsten Wenzel from the Archaeological Museum, for example, and Hartmut Leppin from Goethe University and LEIZA’s Benjamin Fourlas, the latter a Byzantinist who studies early Christian rituals. All of them confirmed that these are indeed Christian signets. Phrases like “qui se dedit voluntati domini” are not found in pagan texts. And “hagios, hagios, hagios” – “holy, holy, holy” – Greek written in Latin, does not exist in pagan contexts. But the key to success was the quotation from St. Paul in the last lines. I had deciphered individual elements – “caelestes”, the heavenly ones, and “omnis lingua confiteatur”, every tongue confess – but the rest didn’t make any sense. Until Wolfram Kinzig, a church historian from Bonn University, said the sequence of words reminded him of St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians. I looked it up and – ecce! – when you know it, it’s right there: that’s exactly what it says.
So, recognizing a certain sequence of words takes you a step further in deciphering the text.
You approach such a text from several angles. With some practice, you can read part of it, around 50 to 70 percent, relatively quickly. The rest requires persistent struggle. Which stroke belongs to a letter? The roll is bent and compressed several times, and contains cracks that appear like the strokes of letters. And while reading, you are constantly scouring your mind for the Latin vocabulary or finding yourself having to look it up. Sometimes you go astray and put it away again for another day. Or you have an idea and relay it to your colleagues, who in turn have to take the time to discuss it. With computed tomography, you can penetrate into the deeper layers, too; the little roll is after all not a symmetrical spiral, but actually quite crooked. Viewed at an angle, some letters actually look like a dot in the two-dimensional image. Using the CT technique, you can refocus, tilt and really dissect the text. But what sounds so simple here is actually very time-consuming work for the colleagues in Mainz, supported with extensive computer models.
How long did you end up tinkering until arriving at the current reading?
I didn’t count the hours, so I can’t put a figure on how much it cost the taxpayer. All told, it was a time span of perhaps half a year, including long breaks. This extended time is also helpful, because with such texts – as with research and science in general – you occasionally have to distance yourself from cherished words and thoughts. Taking another critical look with a cool head after a while may produce an alternative view. Another helpful technique was redrawing the CT image by hand, because you have to account for every line.
How will your findings be published?
The publication strategy will be decided soon. We will probably start with various articles. From the technical and scientific side, there is great interest in the CT method applied, which itself is completely new. Of course, we are also thinking about a larger article addressing archaeological, ancient historical and theological issues.
How do you feel knowing that an apartment building now sits on the burial ground?
Yes, that’s definitely something I have mixed feelings about. In this particular instance, everything went according to plan. The cemetery’s existence has been known since the 19th century. In a way, the excavation works offered a sort of viewing window. The burial ground extends beyond all existing excavation pit boundaries, meaning there is still a lot in the ground. Some of it has been destroyed by pipe shafts, underground garages and older cellars. Further remains can hopefully be preserved in the ground or systematically excavated in the future, as here. It is crucial that the find is documented and contextualized by the scientific excavation. After all, had it been a stray find, who would otherwise have believed that the oldest authentic evidence of Christianity north of the Alps comes from Frankfurt (and not e. g. from Trier, Cologne or Mainz)?
Do you think this find will turn out to have been the biggest highlight of your scientific career?
Hopefully not ;-). There are many other interesting projects that don’t gain this level of visibility. It’s highly unlikely for something like this to come along again. Of course, it’s something one always hopes for, but it remains an absolute stroke of luck. Many archaeological findings are generated more like a large jigsaw puzzle, with patience, complex networked methodology and long memory.
