Magdala stone: 2,000-year-old carving from Jerusalem is world's oldest known depiction of a menorah

In 2009, Israeli archaeologists uncovered a massive stone in an ancient synagogue near the Sea of Galilee — and it had an ancient menorah carved into it. Only a handful of depictions of menorahs exist from the Second Temple period, which ended in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed both the temple and Jerusalem, and the Magdala stone may be the earliest of them all.

During an archaeological excavation ahead of construction, archaeologists discovered the ruins of a synagogue at the site of Magdala (also called Migdal), an ancient city said to be the birthplace of Mary Magdalen. The synagogue was in use from about A.D. 50 through its abandonment and collapse around A.D. 80.

Within a small room thought to have held Torah scrolls, archaeologists found a unique rectangular block of limestone set on four stone feet, now known as the Magdala stone. Five sides of the stone were decorated with raised carvings of objects in a synagogue. One of these carvings — a seven-branch menorah — has been the focus of much discussion since the stone's discovery.

The Magdala stone measures about 23.6 by 19.7 by 15.7 inches (60 by 50 by 40 centimeters). The long sides of the stone are carved with a series of round arches separated by columns, while the top includes floral imagery. On one of the narrow ends, a menorah rests on a square box flanked by amphoras, or clay jugs. The menorah's seven branches reflect the menorah used in rituals in the Second Temple.

Archaeologist Mordechai Aviam wrote in a study that the Magdala stone may have served as the base for a Torah reading table and that the decorations depict the Holy of Holies shrine — where God's presence is said to dwell, according to Jewish tradition. This Holy of Holies shrine was in the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Following the sack of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the Romans took the gold menorah from the Second Temple and paraded it through Rome, eventually memorializing their military triumph on the Arch of Titus.

The discovery of a carved representation of the Second Temple outside of Jerusalem suggests that a pilgrim saw the Holy of Holies shrine and its gold menorah before the Second Temple was sacked. This pilgrim likely commissioned a representation of them for the Magdala synagogue prior to the destruction, making the Magdala stone the oldest image of the Second Temple's seven-branch menorah ever found.

This year, Hanukkah began after sundown on Dec. 14. The Festival of Lights lasts for eight days. Nowadays, Jewish people typically use a nine-branch menorah, called a hanukkiah, that celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C., after the Maccabees revolted against the Seleucid rulers of Syria. The Seleucids had outlawed Jewish practices and brought pagan worship to the Second Temple.

After ousting the Seleucids, the Maccabees ritually purified and re-dedicated the Temple. Scholars of Judaism disagree about the significance of why Hanukkah lasts eight days. Some say the Maccabees found a flask of oil that unexpectedly burned for eight days, while others suggest that people were observing a delayed Sukkot, which celebrates the fall harvest.

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