6th century Amphorae with Menorah Representation from Phanagoria

Abstract

During excavations in 2019 in Phanagoria at the Lower City site, two amphorae with red paint dipinto representing a seven-lamp menorah were found in a fire layer dating from around the middle of the 6th century. Representations of seven-armed candelabrum on amphorae and generally on containers were a sign that they contained a kosher food, i.e. suitable for consumption according to Halakha – a corpus of laws guiding activities of a Jew. Thus, the published amphorae attest to the presence of a Jewish community in the city in early Byzantine time and fill a chronological gap in a short list of archaeological and written evidence about the Jewish community of Phanagoria, moreover, the fact that the vessels were found at a fairly close distance from each other in a narrowly dated gated complex may indicate the presence of a Jewish quarter there. The finds are of particular importance due to the fact that the number of amphorae and other vessels with dipinti representing a menorah known to date is rather insignificant. Their findings are known only from excavations in several centres of the Northern Pontic and Palestine.