Fate of Menorah

Shape of Menorah

Fate of Menorah

The original menorah was made for the Tabernacle, and is recorded as being present until the Jordan was crossed.

When the Tabernacle is pitched in Shiloh (Joshua 18:1), it is safe to assume that the menorah was also present. However, no mention is made of it during the years that the ark of the covenant was moving about the land in the times of Samuel and Saul. Indeed, there is no further mention at all of the menorah, even in Solomon's temple, as he creates ten candlesticks (Chronicles&verse=4:7&src=! 2 Chronicles 4:7). These are definitely recorded as being taken away to Babylon by the invading armies under the general Nebuzar-Adan (Jeremiah 52:19) some centuries later.

During the restoration of worship after the captivity in Babylon, no mention is made of the return of the menorah or of any of Solomon's candlesticks, but only of "vessels" (Ezra 1:9-10). Since however the Temple was an enclosed place with no natural light, some means of illumination must have existed.

Although apocryphal, the Maccabees record that Antiochus Epiphanes took away the candlesticks (plural) when he invaded and robbed the temple as it was in those days (maccabees &verse=1:21&src=! 1 maccabees 1:21). The later record of the making of "new holy vessels" may refer to the manufacture of new candlesticks (maccabees &verse=4:49&src=! 1 maccabees 4:49). There is thereafter no Biblical track of the fate of the menorah.

The fate of the menorah used in the Second Temple is recorded by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who states that it was brought to Rome and carried along during the triumph of Vespasian and Titus. A depiction of this event is preserved on the Arch of Titus that still stands today in Rome. This frieze is the best known image of what the menorah in the Temple looked like. As such it is this depiction of the Menorah which appears on Israel's Coat of Arms.
Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus

The menorah probably remained in the Temple of Peace in Rome until the city was sacked. The first sacking was by the Visigoths under Alaric I in 410 CE.

Most likely, the menorah was looted by the Vandals in sacking of Rome in 455 CE, and taken to their capital, Carthage. The Byzantine army under General Belisarius might have removed it in 533 and brought it to Constantinople. According to Procopius, it was carried through the streets of Constantinople during Belisarius' triumphal procession. Procopius adds that the object was later sent back to Jerusalem where there is no record of it, although it could have been destroyed when Jerusalem was pillaged by the Persians in 614.