Stephaton

Stephaton, or Steven, is the name given in medieval Christian traditions to the Roman soldier or bystander, unnamed in the Bible, who offered Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar wine at the Crucifixion.

In later depictions of the Crucifixion, Stephaton is frequently portrayed with Longinus, the soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a spear.

[3] Others have theorised it may have been posca, a mixture of water, vinegar and wine consumed by common soldiers and the lower classes in the Roman world.

[6] In an iconographic tradition originating in Byzantine art, and continuing in Carolingian and Ottonian art,[7] in depictions of the Crucifixion, he was regularly shown alongside Longinus, with their actions shown simultaneously, though in the Biblical narrative, these took place at different times (Stephaton's occurs before Jesus' death, Longinus' occurred after.)

[9] Medieval Christian artists indicated that the sponge-bearer was irredeemably wicked (unlike Longinus), through conventions like showing him on Jesus' left-hand side, without a halo, and/or with some kind of physical deformity.

Stephaton, to the right of Jesus, in the earliest crucifixion in an illuminated manuscript , from the Syriac Rabbula Gospels , 586. Unlike Longinus , he is not named here
James Tissot 's depiction. Here, the hyssop stick is used as a kind of straw, and "Stephaton" squeezes the sponge. ( c. 1880 , gouache over graphite on grey wove paper )