an instrument to hold a candle, made in different forms and of different materials.

The candlestick or candelabrum which Moses was commanded to make for the tabernacle was of hammered gold, a talent in weight, and consisted of a base with a shaft rising out of it, of six arms which came out by threes from two opposite sides of the shaft, of seven lamps supported on the summits of the six arms and central shaft; and the arms and shaft were ornamented with "cups, globes (or pomegranates), and blossoms," three cups being allotted to each arm, and four to the shaft. According to Jewish tradition, each arm rose to a level with the summit of the shaft,—which is borne out by the representation of it on the arch of Titus. The extremities of the arms and shaft supported the seven golden lamps, which were filled with oil and cotton.

The seven lamps were lighted every evening, and extinguished every morning. This candelabrum was placed in the holy place, on the south side, and served to illuminate the altar of incense and the table of show-bread. When Solomon built the temple, he placed in it ten golden candelabra, five on the north and five on the south side of the Holy Place; but after the Babylonish captivity, the golden candlestick was again placed in the temple, as it had been before in the tabernacle by Moses. This candelabrum is the one which, after the destruction of Jerusalem, was carried with other spoils to Rome; then, A.D. 456, became a part of the plunder which Genseric transported to Africa; was again, about A.D. 553, recaptured from the Vandals by Belisarius, and carried to Constantinople, and was thence sent to Jerusalem, and from that time disappeared altogether. It is to this candelabrum that the representation on the arch of Titus at Rome was intended to apply; and, although the existence of the figures of eagles and marine monsters on the pediment of that lamp tends to render the accuracy of that copy questionable, yet there is reason to believe that, in other points, it may be relied upon as a reasonably correct representation of the Herodian candelabrum. (See Reland, *De Spoliis Templi Hierosolym.,* in Arcu Titiano, ed. sec. Schulze, 1775.)