The earliest representations of the seven-branched candelabrum date from

the Hasmonean period (165-37 BCE), that is, from the time when the Second

Temple was still standing. There are, in fact, few such representations, and all

of them are apparently connected with the Temple and the priests. One coin

of Antigonus Mattathias, the last Hasmonean king and high priest (40-37

BCE) shows a seven-branched candelabrum stamped on one side and a

shewbread (lehem hapanim) table on the other, while a sundial discovered in

excavations at the Temple Mount bears the image of a seven-branched

candelabrum. Further examples include candelabra carved on the resplendent

first century BCE tomb of Jason discovered in Jerusalem, whose wealth and

name indicate that he belonged to a priestly family. The wall of a first century

BCE house in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem also has a seven-branched

candelabrum carved into the plaster alongside a shewbread table and altar. It

is assumed that these representations were carved on the wall of a priestly

house, perhaps for the purpose of instructing novice priests. Though

extremely rare, these few drawings show that the menorah had become one of

the symbols of the Temple even before its destruction in 70 CE.

Ten years after the destruction of the Temple, the Romans portrayed the

menorah on the Arch of Titus together with the shewbread table and other

Temple objects taken to Rome, demonstrating their victory over the Jews.

However, with the exception of a few clay lamps and sarcophagi where

menorahs are depicted with more or fewer than seven branches, the menorah is not found on Jewish objects. Even coins minted in the time of Bar

Kokhba (132-135 CE), which depict the Temple, the shewbread table, as well as the lulav (palm branch), and the ethrog (citron),  to symbolize the

aspiration of the rebels to rebuild the Temple and reinstate the pilgrimages, the menorah is not shown, which is surprising. One explanation is

that this is because it was depicted on the Arch of Titus and therefore had come to symbolize defeat. Others attribute its absence to an interdiction

by the rabbis of the time against making a menorah because of its connection with the Temple: “You will not make a menorah of that kind but one

of five [branches] or six or eight and not of seven, even if of different materials” (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 24a-b; Avodah Zarah 43a;

Menachot 28b).