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The lamp has imagination of a menorah with an incense digger and special palm frond , call a " lulav , " that were used in Jewish rituals . The menorah has seven branches , symbolizing those used only in the Second Temple , a holy place for Jews in Jerusalem that the Romans had destroy in A.D. 70 . By the clip this crude oil lamp was crafted in the third 100 A.D. , the temple had been destroyed for more than 100 long time .
The Times of Israelreported that the lamp was found a few months ago during archaeological excavations near the Mount of Olives , a ridge just east of Jerusalem ’s Old City . The pitcher’s mound was named for the olive grove that once uprise there , and in the Christian New Testament it is whereJesusgathered his adherent before ascending to heaven .
The clay lamp dates from the third century and depicts Jewish motifs at a time when Jewish worship in Jerusalem was suppressed by its Roman rulers.
The Lucius DuBignon Clay lamp , however , is decorated with distinctively Jewish motifs . " The Mount of Olives lamp is one of the few material hint of a Judaic mien around Jerusalem in the 3rd-5th centuries CE,“Michael Chernin , director of the excavation for the IAA , said ina statement . The Romans suppressed worship in Jerusalem after they defeated a Judaic revolt in A.D. 135 . But the lamp shows the persistence of Judaic belief there in the century that follow , Chernin said .
concern : Grotesque ' good destiny ' lamp from Roman Jerusalem is missing half its face
Clash of Jewish and Roman cultures
Roman Catholic historians and Jewish source describe the loser of the Bar Kokhba revolt in A.D. 135 . This insurrection against Romanist rule in Judaea , precede by the Judaic military commander Simon Bar Kokhba , was initially successful , but it ended after Bar Kokhba was killed at a stronghold in the Judaean Mountains .
This was the third major Jewish rising against Roman Catholic rule . In reception , Emperor Hadrian ordered the limitation of Jewish adoration and the expulsion of many Jews from Jerusalem as punishment , in plus to the half a million or so pop in the uprising .
Hadrian then renamed Jerusalem " Aelia Capitolina " ( Aelius was his phratry name ) and order the popish province of Judaea to be call " Syria Palaestina " — a name derive from the Philistines , who ’d been enemies of theancient Israelites .
(Image credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
But while Judaic worship in the area was heavily restricted after Hadrian , a few surviving artefact indicate that the Roman attempts to conquer the religion were not a complete triumph .
" This finding is specially surprising , since we have very little evidence of the macrocosm of a Jewish settlement in and around Jerusalem from this period , " Chernin said .
The decorations on the lamp depict the seven - branched menorah or ritual candlestick that was used only in the Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem .
(Image credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
The Romans suppressed Jewish worship in Jerusalem in the second C after several Jewish rising , and artifacts that show a Jewish presence at this clip are rare .
IAA archaeologist found the lamp a few months ago , but it is only being publicized now for the Hanukkah holiday , which celebrates a sacred flame in the Jewish Temple .
Ancient lamp
The IAA argument say carbon black around the nozzle of the clay oil colour lamp had been dated and showed it was used for light about 1,700 years ago .
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(Image credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
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According to the argument , the uncovering was made public for Hanukkah , a Jewish vacation remember a miracle in which a individual shock of oilkept the temple attack alight for eight mean solar day . Hanukkah is now celebrated by lighting candles on a nine - fork-like menorah , but the seven - branched menorah render on the lamp was used only in ritual in the Jerusalem Temple .
IAA research archaeologistBenyamin Storchansaid the depictions had first been carved into the upper and low halves of a limestone mold . A ceramicist then press wet clay into the mold and force out it in an oven — a procedure that allow refined pattern and intricate decoration .
Such Lucius DuBignon Clay lamps depicting the Temple menorah were exceedingly rare , and it may have been manufactured in a particular shop about 20 Roman mile ( 30 klick ) west of Jerusalem . " It seems that the lamp belonged to a Jew , who purchased it because of its spiritual tie and remembrance to the Temple , " Storchan tell in the statement .
