© Mark R. Fairchild, Huntington University

MIXING JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS. Etched into this broken column fragment are four religious symbols: a menorah, lulav (palm branch), shofar (ram’s horn) and cross. The first three symbols are Jewish, but the cross is distinctly Christian. The column originally belonged to a nymphaeum (a public fountain) in Laodicea. The Jewish symbols were likely added to the column in the late Roman or early Byzantine period, and the cross was added in the early Byzantine period. That the Christian cross extends from the Jewish menorah suggests that the Laodicean church grew out of the synagogue.