Image Details

Courtesy of the Israel Exploration Society

Menorah plaques. Although highly stylized, the symbols depicted on these plaques may be identified because they are clear simplifications of more easily recognizable forms in other synagogue decorations. This incised marble plaque (compare with next photo) found in Sardis, Asia Minor, in the ruins of a synagogue destroyed in 615 A.D., bears depictions of a menorah flanked by a lulav, left, and a shofar, right. The spirals beneath the menorah represent rolled Torah scrolls, as seen looking toward the ends of the rolls.