A rare ceramic oil lamp from the late Roman period that bears images of items used in the Second Temple has been discovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Thursday.
“After the Roman emperor Hadrian suppressed the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 CE, Jews were expelled from the city,” IAA excavation director Michael Chernin said. “The Mount of Olives lamp is one of the few material traces of a Jewish presence around Jerusalem in the third to fifth centuries CE.”
The lamp was a “unique find,” the IAA said, and judging by the soot marks on its nozzle, it was used about 1,700 years ago.
The Temple symbols that decorate the lamp include a depiction of the menorah used in the Second Temple, an incense shovel, and a lulav (palm branch).
“The exquisite artistic workmanship of the lamp, which was found complete, makes it outstanding and extremely rare,” Chernin said.
The symbols on the lamp, which connected them to the Temple, were “particularly surprising” because there has been “very little evidence of the existence of a Jewish settlement in and around Jerusalem from this period,” he said.
IAA archaeologist Benjamin Storchan said the lamp was “the ‘Beit Nattif’ type, named after a production workshop identified in the 1930s near Bet Shemesh.”
'Exceedingly rare' find
“Oil lamps with menorah decorations are exceedingly rare, and only a few similar Beit Nattif-type lamps can be found in the National Treasures archive,” he said. “The choice of symbols on the lamp is not accidental. This is a fascinating testimony connecting everyday objects and faiths among ancient Jerusalem’s inhabitants. It seems that the lamp belonged to a Jew, who purchased it because of its religious affiliation and memorial to the Temple.”
“It is evident that the lamp maker dedicated a great deal of time and effort to its decoration [and] delicately and intricately carved limestone molds using drills and chisels,” he added.
“The molds were made in two parts – upper and lower,” Storchan said. “To create the lamp, the potter pressed the clay into the molds and then pressed them together. Finally, the vessel was fired, and it could be used. This method of producing lamps in molds allowed for refined designs, as well as the addition of delicate and intricate decorations.”
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit) said: “This unique oil lamp, which in an exciting manner bears the symbols of the Temple, connects the lights of the past with the Hanukkah holiday of today and expresses the deep and long-standing connection of the nation of Israel to its heritage and to the Temple’s memory.”
The lamp would be revealed to the public for the first time during Hanukkah “alongside stone molds used to make ceramic lamps,” he said.