ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the reluctance or inability of scholarship to account for the juxtaposition of the cross and the menorah in a single artifact. The menorah is by any measure the quintessential symbol of Judaism in antiquity. The menorah seems to have flowered in its use as a symbol for Judaism and Judeans just as the coherence of a common homeland and cultic center evaporated. Beyond the menorah, there are other symbols that appear frequently in graves that are identified with Jewish people and in other contexts that suggest a Jewish presence or use. The symbols usually supposed to be indicative of the "Jewish" "religion" turn out to be as much about Judean identification as anything like a "religious" outlook. The cross arises in very different circumstances, and it would seem to have a much clearer connection to Christianity, which in turn would seem to have a stronger claim to being a "religion" in the modern sense.
