Rare, intact 1,500-year-old ceramic lantern discovered in Galilee

A rare, nearly intact 1,500-year-old ceramic lantern was recently uncovered during conservation work at Tzippori National Park in the Galilee, the National Parks Authority said in a Sunday announcement.

The small round lantern, dated to the Byzantine period (4th to 6th centuries CE), is just 18 centimeters in diameter and 19 centimeters high (4.1×4.5 inches) and could be rested on a flat surface or hung. It has a rectangular opening in the front, into which an oil lamp would be placed, and some 55 small openings or “light slits” around the body to radiate light, the notice said.

The lantern is “relatively rare” because it’s unusual to “find complete lanterns in excavations,” Dr. Dror Ben-Yosef, National Parks Authority archaeologist, said in the statement.

The lantern was crafted by a skilled artisan and would have likely been a prized household item, since “vessels of light (candles and lanterns) were deeply charged” with ritual meanings, Ben-Yosef said. Such items were also connected with burial customs, he said, leading them to be seen “as a medium for expressing messages through decorations with cultural and religious motifs,” he added.

Because of the ancient Jewish connection to the city, where hundreds of families and leaders built a new community after the failed Bar Kochba Revolt of the 2nd century CE, “it can be assumed that the lamp was used by a Jewish community there,” Ben-Yosef said.

The newly discovered lantern was turned over to the Israel Antiquities Authority for further examination, and will be displayed to the public at a later date, the notice said.

Tzippori, also known as Sepphoris, was known as the “Capital of the Galilee” in antiquity and was located north of Nazareth, about midway between Haifa and the Sea of Galilee. In the early third century CE, it was the seat of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, aka Judah the Prince, where he and the Sanhedrin began compiling the Mishnah, the written-down Jewish oral law.

In the middle of the third century, the Sanhedrin seat moved to Tiberias, but Tzippori appears to have continued to be an important Jewish center. During the Byzantine period, the city was home to a flourishing mixed pagan, Christian and Jewish community.

Tzippori National Park, a popular tourist and hiking site, boasts an archaeological park highlighting the Roman and Byzantine period town and the numerous finds there, including an ancient synagogue with a Zodiac-themed mosaic floor and a Roman villa with a mosaic showing scenes from stories about wine-god Dionysus.

In late antiquity, grapes were a prominent crop in the region and winemaking a major industry. Several years ago, two Byzantine-era wine presses were discovered in a subterranean cistern at Tzippori.

Amanda Borschel-Dan contributed to this report.