Strata: Is This What the Temple Menorah Looked Like?

The menorah, a seven-branched candelabra that stood in the Temple, is the most enduring and iconic Jewish symbol. But what did it look like? In early August, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) issued a press release announcing the discovery of “an engraving of the Temple’s menorah on a stone object” in a 2,000-year-old drainage channel near the City of David, which is being excavated by Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron.^a (An unusually well preserved iron sword in its leather scabbard, which presumably belonged to a Roman soldier, was also found there.) The IAA release went on to say that “a passerby who saw the [Temple] menorah with his own eyes…incised his impressions on a stone.” The excavators were quoted as saying that this graffito “clarifies [that] the base of the original menorah…was apparently tripod shaped.”

But does it?