The figure of the seven-branched candlestick appears in Cyrenaica at two places in very unusual circumstances. The first is at ‛Ein Targhuna, where it is cut deeply into a Roman road leading to Hirbet al-Yahud (on this site, see p. 170 sqq.). What is the meaning of a menorah incised in so extraordinary a position? The second instance may assist an answer. It is located at Ptolemais, where the figure is seen cut on the north wall of the south tower guarding the western city gate. The latter was built by Comanus, minister of Euergetes II, in about 158 B.C., and the same wall exhibits other incised inscriptions made by Greeks, apparently soldiers of the garrison.[1261] The menorah is so inappropriate to what surrounds it that it may be interpreted as a challenge, and after A.D. 70 it would only be attributed to the revolt of Trajan’s time. An aggressive act like the cutting of a menorah[1262] in a public place can only possess the significance of defiance or victory. We are thus reminded of the formula inscribed on two milestones of Hadrian from Cyrene and its vicinity: “The Emperor Hadrian (with all his routine titles) restored the road which had been overturned and broken up (eversa et co*ruftta) in the Jewish revolt.”[1263] A paved road can be overturned and broken up; this cannot be done to a rockcut road, but Jewish victory can be expressed in relation to it by cutting the menorah symbol in its surface.[1264] The conclusion is, that the menorah became for the Jews of Cyrene in the years 115-117 a political symbol and a sign of defiance and revolt. This conclusion harmonizes with the origin of lamps bearing the menorah figure in Cyrenaica, and if this suggestion is correct, Cyrenaica may be regarded as one of the points of diffusion of that symbol as a decorative motif on Jewish objects and buildings after the destruction of the Second Temple.
Several facts can be adduced concerning the function of this and similar types of lamp in the early Roman Empire. The decorative motifs on them are many and various, but we may notice among them the appearance of the figure of the Goddess of Victory,[1265] of victors of a horse-race with their horse,[1266] and the oakleaf wreath (corona civica), symbolizing valour.[1267] Very popular and well known is the lamp bearing the new year greeting annum novum, faustum, felicem, accompanied by the figure of the Goddess of Victory.[1268] Fragmentary examples of such found at Petra were incised with the addition word “Shalom” (peace) in Nabataean characters.[1269] Cases are also known in which lamps served as propaganda in the Roman world; such were the lamps inscribed Genio Populi Romani Feliciter (in the form of the abbreviation GPRF),[1270] or Ob cives servatos.[1271] In several instances these inscriptions occurred on a round shield (clipeus) supported by the figure of the Victory Goddess appearing in much the same form as on the new year lamps. Others of this type carry the letters S(enatus) C(on-sulto),[1272] evidencing that they were manufactured officially under state auspices. The date of the general type of the “Victory lamps” is in the reigns of Augustus and his successors,[1273] while the inscription Ob cives servatos connects them with the coins inscribed with the same words. These were first struck by Augustus to commemorate his successful campaign in Spain in 27 B.C.; they appear again on coins of 19 B.C. to celebrate the recovery of the Roman military standards from Parthia.[1274] The inscription is again encountered on coins of Vespasian, on which it surrounds an oak leaf wreath, symbol of victorious courage.[1275] There can be little doubt, therefore, that certain types of “Victory Lamps” resembling typologically the Cyrenean specimen under discussion, were used for purposes of state propaganda, and on two occasions one of these inscriptions marked successes on the eastern front of the Empire.
Very interesting is the function assigned to a lamp found in Campania,[1276] which belongs to the same type as the example from Cyrene. Its shape is similar, but the decorative motifs around the inner circle of the face are divided into pointed leaves.The face of the lamp shows the figure of a seated goddess, winged and hel-meted, who symbolizes, it would seem, both Rome and Victory. She is pouring a libation onto an altar before her, and is surrounded by symbols of the Empire’s more important cults; the eagle of Jupiter, the dolphin of Neptune, the hawk of Horus, the club of Heracles, the sistrum of Isis, the lyre of Apollo, the pincers of Vulcan, the caduceus of Mercury and the torch of Demeter. A central place is occupied by the corn-ear, pomegranate, cymbals and raven of the Great Mother (Magna Mater) of Asia, also by a sacred standard combining the sun and the moon, the symbols of the deities of Asia and Syria alike. It is probable enough that this lamp originated in the east, and that its purpose was to emphasize the unity of the Empire’s cults under the leadership of Rome. A group of figures which resembles the above in every respect is represented on a circular lamp found at Rome;[1277] the lamp-face here being defined, not by leaf motifs, but by simple mouldings. This specimen has sixteen nozzles. Parallel in function and content are two earthenware medallions from Italy, today in the Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology at Nir David, Israel; they bear a number of religious symbols, including the caduceus, the trident, the pincers, the sun-wheel, the moon, the double cornucopeia, the sceptre, the thunderbolt and the cymbals. Another example of lamp propaganda is represented by the specimen found at Gerasa already referred to, bearing the figure of Zeus Ammon. The third legion “Cyrenaica” was transferred to Arabia somewhere about 128, and as the worship of Ammon in Eretz Yisrael was in the main confined to the military and originated there with the same legion,[1278] this find must be later than most of the other objects from the same workshop, and it may be supposed that it reflects propaganda conducted to spread the cult of Ammon for political purposes.
It has also been remarked that the Cyrenean lamp is of unusual size, and the menorah on it constituted only a small part of the decoration occupying the upper surface. What constituted the rest of it? As we have been able to determine which types of gentile lamp were the prototypes of the Jewish example, a conjecture may be hazarded. The gentile examples, some of which were circulated at the instance of the government itself, laid stress on the idea of victory, figuring the Roman goddess of Victory or a similar deity (such as Zeus) as victor, or the Roman Victory as leader and unifier of the Empire’s cults; this motif takes the form of Victorious Rome surrounded by the symbols of those same cults.
1264
The confrontation of a menorah with the inscription “Victoria Augusta” among the rock cuttings in Wadi Umm Sidera in south Sinai (Rothenberg, in
1274
For both groups of coins see C. H. V. Sutherland,
1275
H. Cohen,
1276
A. Héron de Villefosse,
1277
H. Th. Bossert,