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(Image credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority )
Archaeologists in Jerusalem have actually discovered an unusual 1,300-year-old lead medallion embellished on both sides with the image of a seven-branched menorah– the ritualistic candlestick special to the Second Temple.
Scientists believe the medallion was endured a pendant by a Jewish individual in the late 6th or early seventh century, when the city and surrounding area were under the guideline of the Christian Byzantine Empire — just years before the city fell, initially to the Sasanian Persians in 614 and after that to mainly Arab Islamic intruders in about 638.
“One day while I was digging inside an ancient structure, I suddenly saw something different, gray, among the stones,” Ayayu Belete, a historical employee for the not-for-profit City of David Foundation, stated in the declaration. “I picked up the object and saw that it was a pendant with a menorah on it.”
The discovery is a surprise to archaeologists due to the fact that Jews were limited from getting in the city at that time. Centuries previously, the Jewish individuals’s stopped working Bar Kochba (likewise spelled Kokhba) Revolt from 132 to 136 (the 3rd significant disobedience versus Roman guideline in Judaea) led the Roman emperor Hadrian to state that Jerusalem would be reconstructed as “Aelia Capitolina” which the surrounding province of Judaea would be called Syria-Palaestina. This ancient name was motivated by the long-dead Philistinesscriptural opponents of the Israelites who had actually lived along the neighboring Mediterranean coast.
The medallion was found at a historical site in Jerusalem’s
ancient “City of David” historical site, south of the Temple Mount.
(Image credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority)Unusual medallionThe newly found medallion was found inside a Late Byzantine-era structure, which had actually been buried below a thick layer of debris from building work directed by the city’s Umayyad rulers a couple of years after the Islamic conquest, the declaration stated.
The medallion is disc-shaped, with a loop at the top. Both sides portray a seven-branched menoraha kind of menorah that was utilized just in Jerusalem’s Second Temple, which was ruined by the Romans in A.D. 70. (Nine-branched menorahs are utilized nowadays at Hanukkah.) The top of each candlestick branch on the medallion has a horizontal crossbar with flames increasing above it. One side of the medallion is well maintained, however the opposite is covered by a natural patina from weathering; analysis reveals it was made nearly totally of lead.
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Just one other millennia-old lead medallion bearing the menorah sign has actually ever been discovered before, the declaration stated. “A pendant made of pure lead, decorated with a menorah, is an exceptionally rare find,” IAA archaeologists Yuval Baruch Filip Vukosavović Esther Rakow-Mellet and Shulamit Terem composed in the declaration. “The double appearance of the menorah on each side of the disc indicates the deep significance of this symbol.”
Archaeologists believe the lead medallion was used as an amulet for wonderful defense, instead of as precious jewelry. (Image credit: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David Foundation)Hadrian’s cityJews were apparently prohibited from going into the city in Byzantine times and had actually been given that the Roman success in the Bar Kochba revolt. According to Günter Stembergeran emeritus teacher Jewish Studies at the University of Vienna, the restriction was in some cases unwinded, and lots of Jews resided in neighboring cities and areas.
It’s uncertain what significance these medallions held for their owners. “Were they private objects of Jews who came to the city for various reasons — perhaps merchants, or those on administrative missions, or individuals who came to the city as secret pilgrims, and under unofficial circumstances?” the historical group composed in the declaration.
This is just the 2nd lead medallion portraying a menorah ever discovered. (Image credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority)The newly found medallion exposes that “during periods when imperial edicts were issued prohibiting Jews from residing in the city, they did not stop coming there,” stated Baruch, the IAA’s Jerusalem District archaeologist.
The truth that the medallion was made from lead suggested it was used as an amulet– and most likely concealed– instead of as precious jewelry, according to Baruch. “Lead was considered a common and particularly popular material for making amulets at that time,” he stated.
Tom Metcalfe is a self-employed reporter and routine Live Science factor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom composes primarily about science, area, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has actually likewise composed for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & & Space, and lots of others.
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