Menorà e due shofarot

A small, nearly square stele of soft limestone, its upper right corner chipped. On one face, a seven-branched menorah is carved, flanked on each long side by a shofar, the ritual ram’s horn. The stone once bore a Hebrew inscription, its now-vanished letters guided by faint ruled lines, long since worn away.

This modest funerary marker belongs to the Byzantine period, a time when Jewish communities across Italy maintained their traditions under the Christian empire. The menorah, a symbol of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the shofar, associated with Rosh Hashanah and liberation, were common motifs on Jewish tombs of the era. Such emblems proclaimed identity and faith in a world where public expression could be constrained. The stele’s simplicity and the erasure of its writing speak to the fragility of memory, a stone that holds its symbols more steadfastly than its words.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.