Israeli officials recently announced the discovery of an unusual oil lamp dating to the fourth century, just in time for Hanukkah.
In a Facebook post published Thursday, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) explained the oil lamp, which dates back to the Late Roman Empire, was found during a recent excavation near the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
The artifact appears to reference the Second Temple, though it was made over 200 years after the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Archaeologists discovered depictions of an incense shovel, a menorah and a lulav, a date tree frond used to celebrate Sukkot, carved on the lamp.
“The exquisite artistic workmanship of the lamp, which was found complete, makes it outstanding and extremely rare,” IAA Excavation Director Michael Chernin said in a statement. “The menorah, incense shovel and lulav are symbols associated with the Jewish connection to the Temple.”
The lamp also contains soot marks from the last time it was used, nearly two millennia ago.
“This unique find, which, judging by the soot marks on its nozzle, was used for lighting about 1,700 years ago, provides a fascinating glimpse into Jewish cultural and religious life during this period,” the IAA said.
During the Late Roman Empire, Christianity became the favored religion, and Roman polytheism was largely abandoned. There were still a significant number of Jews in Israel, where they faced persecution by the Romans.
Chernin added that the oil lamp was “particularly surprising” because very little is known about Jews who lived in Jerusalem in the fourth century.
“After the Roman emperor Hadrian suppressed the Bar Kokhba rebellion in 135 CE, Jews were expelled from the city,” the historian explained. “The Mount of Olives lamp is one of the few material traces of a Jewish presence around Jerusalem in the 3rd-5th centuries CE.”
IAA Research Archaeologist Benjamin Storchan said the craftsman who created the lamp “dedicated a great deal of time and effort to its decoration.”
“The lamp was made using delicately and intricately carved limestone molds using drills and chisels,” Storchan noted. “The molds were made in two parts, upper and lower. To create the lamp, the potter pressed the clay into the molds, then pressed together.”
Storchan also said the lamp likely belonged to a Jew who “purchased it because of its religious affiliation and memorial to the Temple.”
The lamp is on public display at the newly built Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for Archaeology in Jerusalem, where it will be open to the public through the Festival of Lights.
