A tiny 1,800-year-old silver amulet from Frankfurt is the oldest evidence of Christianity north of the Alps
A silver amulet about 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) long, buried under a man’s chin in a Roman cemetery in Frankfurt, Germany, now counts as the earliest authentic evidence of Christianity north of the Alps. Archaeologists could not unroll the delicate foil inside, so they unrolled it digitally with CT scans and read 18 lines of Latin that name Jesus Christ.
A grave in the Roman town of NIDA
Excavators found the amulet in 2018 in the Heilmannstrasse cemetery in Frankfurt-Praunheim, which belonged to the Roman town of NIDA. The object lay in grave 134, which also held a male skeleton, an incense burner and a clay jug. The amulet sat under the man’s chin, so he probably wore it on a cord around his neck. Researchers date the grave to roughly AD 230 to 270.
NIDA stood close to Mogontiacum, today’s Mainz, the capital of the Roman province. Goethe University and the City of Frankfurt announced the find in December 2024.
Reading a scroll nobody could open
The amulet is a small silver case, a kind of protective capsule, and inside it sits a thin silver foil with an inscription. Over about 1,800 years the foil was rolled, creased and pressed flat, which left it too brittle to unroll by hand. Microscopy and X-rays in 2019 confirmed that writing existed but could not read it.
In May 2024, the LEIZA research institute in Mainz scanned the amulet with a high-resolution computer tomograph. The team then separated the foil’s segments digitally and reassembled them piece by piece on screen. Archaeologist Markus Scholz of Goethe University then worked on the text like a puzzle, sometimes spending weeks or months on a single idea and consulting theology experts.
What the 18 lines say
The inscription is entirely in Latin. Scholz noted that amulets of this kind usually used Greek or Hebrew. The text invokes St. Titus, includes the triple acclamation “Holy, holy, holy,” names Jesus Christ as Son of God, and describes protection for a person who submits to the Lord’s will. Near the end, it closely echoes Paul’s hymn to Christ in Philippians 2:10 to 11, which speaks of every knee bending and every tongue confessing.
The researchers describe the text as purely Christian. It contains no Jewish figures such as the patriarchs or archangels, and no pagan elements such as demons.
Why the date matters
According to the announcement, other finds from north of the Alps are at least about 50 years younger, and reliable evidence from the region mostly dates to the 4th century. Writers mentioned Christian groups in Gaul and possibly Upper Germania as early as the late 2nd century, but the researchers treat those references as less secure. Frankfurt’s Lord Mayor, Mike Josef, called the find a scientific sensation and said it pushes the city’s Christian history back by about 50 to 100 years.
The find also suggests that NIDA was no sleepy border settlement. A man there carried a text that quotes Paul, which hints that ideas from across the empire reached this corner of Germany.
Caveats and open questions
Not every word is secure. Some terms in the Latin carry question marks, and the loss of marginal passages leaves some restorations open. The date also rests on the grave, which researchers place within a window of about 40 years, so the amulet’s exact age remains approximate. Future study may refine the reading and show how common such amulets were.
For now, a sliver of silver smaller than a finger has rewritten the early story of Christianity in northern Europe.