The Menorah as Symbol and Myth

In Rome, the past is always underfoot—and overhead. For Jews, in particular, during the last two millennia, the past has been prominently, sculpturally, and hauntingly overhead in the Arch of Titus, whose southern relief famously depicts a procession of Roman soldiers bringing to the capital the seven-branched menorah that was plundered, along with other ceremonial objects, from the Second Temple in Jerusalem when General (later Emperor) Titus defeated the city in 70 CE. This one carved image cemented forever after the destruction of the Jewish state and the inauguration of the Jewish diaspora.