Did the Temple Menorah Come Back to Jerusalem?
The fate of the Temple Menorah—a seven-branched candelabrum—can confidently be traced from Jerusalem to Rome after the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. It is gloriously pictured on the Arch of Titus on the Via Sacra in Rome. It was standard Roman practice at this time, with the capture of a foreign city, that the art and treasures of the defeated people were appropriated as spoils of war and carried back to Rome. In the case of Jerusalem, t