Mysterious capital depicting menorahs found in 1,500-year-old Roman site in Jerusalem
Artifact, made of local limestone, was discovered in a settlement dating from a time when no Jew was allowed to live in the region
Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter.
An impressive limestone capital decorated with menorahs (Jewish ritual candelabras) unearthed in Jerusalem and dating from a period when Jews were barred by the Romans from living in the holy city will be on display for the first time on Independence Day, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.
The artifact was discovered in 2020 during excavations ahead of constructions in the Motza neighborhood at the city’s entrance. It lay upside down in the room of a Byzantine structure dating to the 6th or 7th centuries CE. Experts believe the capital is more ancient and was repurposed for the building in what is known as “secondary use.”
“It seems this capital stood atop a column in a magnificent building or on a street, in a late Roman period settlement here (2nd-4th Centuries CE),” IAA excavation managers Dr. Uzi Ad and Anna Eirich said in a statement.
In the first half of the second century, after the major Jewish uprising against the Romans that became known as the Bar Kochba revolt, Jerusalem was destroyed, and no Jew was allowed to remain in the city or its surroundings.
“From its local context and finds, this settlement was apparently populated by descendants of Roman army retirees,” the statement said. “If so, what was a capital with a menorah decoration on it doing here, of all places – a distinctly Jewish symbol? This is a true conundrum.”
The researchers noted that it is possible that the symbol was depicted by chance.
According to Dr. Orit Peleg-Barkat from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose expertise includes architectural decorations, whoever made the capital might have been very competent but unfamiliar with traditional practices.
“While Corinthian capitals with smooth leaves were common throughout our region from the late Second Temple through Byzantine periods, the capital discovered at Motza exhibits truly distinctive features,” she said in a statement. “Despite being skillfully crafted, it appears to be the work of an artisan less familiar with architectural conventions prevalent in urban public structures.”
Typically, the upper section of such capitals was adorned with floral motifs or plant designs.
“It’s possible the craftsman intended to carve a conventional flower design but, due to his limited familiarity with standard models, created something that bears a resemblance to a symmetrical eight-branched lamp,” she pointed out.
According to Peleg-Barkat, some synagogues of the late Roman and Byzantine periods, such as those found at Capernaum and Caesarea, do feature columns with menorahs, but no other signs of a synagogue were found in the Motza area.
Based on additional research into its material, the scholars were also able to determine that the capital was made of local limestone, which was found within a 10-kilometer radius of the site.
The location of the artifact is not the only mystery surrounding it.
The menorahs carved on each side of the capital feature eight branches — unlike the more common seven-branched menorahs seen in other Roman-era depictions, such as the one on the 1st-century CE Arch of Titus, which illustrates the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and its spoils.
According to Ad, menorah designs were not yet standardized at that time.
“The shape of the menorah sometimes appears with seven branches, sometimes with eight branches,” he said in an IAA video about the discovery.
In the beginning, the archaeologists did not realize that the capital was adorned with menorahs, Ad said. Only after flipping it did they spot its unique decorations.
“Finding a menorah in this way does make us feel a certain sense of national pride,” Ad noted. “Even if we do not know if the artist intended it this way.”
The capital will be displayed at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem, which can be visited on guided tours, from Thursday.
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