Ancient/Medieval slurs for Christians? (Used by Romans, specifically)

[Ranchoth]

Well, we all know that christianity wasn’t thought too highly of in the Roman Empire for quite awhile. (What with all the lion-feeding, and whatnot. )

My question is…Did the Romans have any common slurs or insults that were applied to christians, or Jesus himself, that we know of? I think I remember hearing that “The Nazarine” was used in the miniseries I, Claudius, to refer to Jesus…but I haven’t seen the series myself, so I don’t know for certain. (Or even that it was intended to be a slur by the characters using it.)

That’s…it, I think. Can anyone help me out?
Ranchoth

[Atticus_Finch]

OTOH, the “body and blood” rite of Communion led to stories among Romans that Christians were cannibals. I can’t find a reliable cite for this with a quick google, though.

[FordPrefect]

I may be rembering this wrong, but I think the name ‘Christian’ was intended to be derogatory, but became “their word”. It puts a whole new spin on the c-word concept,doesn’t it?

[bienville]

@FordPrefect

I may be rembering this wrong, but I think the name ‘Christian’ was intended to be derogatory

I can’t tell you that you’re wrong cause I don’t know where you got your info, and I don’t have any cites to refute it, but this seems unlikely to me. If “Christos” (sorry I don’t know how to make my keyboard write Greek letters) is Greek for “Anointed one” than the “Chistians” would be the People “of the Anointed one”. I can’t see this being a slur.

[Kizarvexius]

From the Annals of Rome, by Tacitus:

Nero looked around for a scapegoat, and inflicted the most fiendish tortures on a group of persons already hated by the people for their crimes. This was the sect known as Christians. Their founder, one Christus, had been put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. This checked the abominable superstition for a while, but it broke out again and spread, not merely through Judaea, where it originated, but even to Rome itself, the great reservoir and collecting ground for every kind of depravity and filth. Those who confessed to being Christians were at once arrested, but on their testimony a great crowd of people were convicted, not so much on the charge of arson, but of hatred of the entire human race.

[FordPrefect]

bienville I am suspecting that this may be something I learned in Sunday School as a child, which may have been erroneous, or misremembered.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

I’ve seen pictures of a second-century graffito of a crucified donkey with the words, “Alexamenos Worships His God,” obviously to rag someone for being Christian.
Link here.

According to the link, it was believed by many that Christians worshipped an ass, so that could have given rise to all sorts of slurs.

[Abbie_Carmichael]

Lion Chow?

[redtail23]

The one I’ve seen referred to most often was “atheist” (because they refused to worship the Roman/Greek pantheon). I’m frequently tempted to start using it again.