more: "The artist apparently went to Jerusalem to see with his own eyes this sacred candelabra," she said.

The synagogue built sometime between 50 BC and 100 AD is one of only seven known to date back to the Second Temple period.

Its 120-square-metre (143-square-yard) main hall has a mosaic floor and a square stone adorned with the menorah set atop a pedestal with a triangular base, which is flanked on either side by amphoras, the antiquities department said.