Magdala Stone
E349329
The Magdala Stone is an intricately carved 1st-century CE synagogue stone discovered in Magdala, Israel, notable for its rare depictions related to the Jerusalem Temple and early Jewish worship.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Magdala Stone canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3328416 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Magdala Stone Context triple: [Magdala, hasArchaeologicalFeature, Magdala Stone]
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A.
Wadi el-Hol inscriptions
The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions are a set of early alphabetic carvings found in Egypt’s Western Desert that are considered among the oldest known examples of the Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite script and a key milestone in the development of the alphabet.
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B.
Magdala
Magdala is an ancient fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, traditionally known as the hometown of Mary Magdalene in Christian tradition.
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C.
Khirbet al-Mudayna inscriptions
The Khirbet al-Mudayna inscriptions are a set of ancient Moabite texts discovered at the site of Khirbet al-Mudayna that provide valuable evidence for the language, culture, and history of the Moabite kingdom.
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D.
Jerusalem stone
Jerusalem stone is a traditional pale limestone and dolomite building material widely used in Jerusalem’s architecture and religious and memorial structures throughout the region.
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E.
Narmer Macehead
The Narmer Macehead is an ancient ceremonial stone macehead from early dynastic Egypt, notable for its carved scenes that likely commemorate King Narmer’s royal ceremonies or military victories and provide key evidence for the formation of the Egyptian state.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Magdala Stone Target entity description: The Magdala Stone is an intricately carved 1st-century CE synagogue stone discovered in Magdala, Israel, notable for its rare depictions related to the Jerusalem Temple and early Jewish worship.
-
A.
Wadi el-Hol inscriptions
The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions are a set of early alphabetic carvings found in Egypt’s Western Desert that are considered among the oldest known examples of the Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite script and a key milestone in the development of the alphabet.
-
B.
Magdala
Magdala is an ancient fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, traditionally known as the hometown of Mary Magdalene in Christian tradition.
-
C.
Khirbet al-Mudayna inscriptions
The Khirbet al-Mudayna inscriptions are a set of ancient Moabite texts discovered at the site of Khirbet al-Mudayna that provide valuable evidence for the language, culture, and history of the Moabite kingdom.
-
D.
Jerusalem stone
Jerusalem stone is a traditional pale limestone and dolomite building material widely used in Jerusalem’s architecture and religious and memorial structures throughout the region.
-
E.
Narmer Macehead
The Narmer Macehead is an ancient ceremonial stone macehead from early dynastic Egypt, notable for its carved scenes that likely commemorate King Narmer’s royal ceremonies or military victories and provide key evidence for the formation of the Egyptian state.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Jewish ritual object
ⓘ
archaeological artifact ⓘ carved stone block ⓘ synagogue furnishing ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Herodian period
ⓘ
Jerusalem Temple ⓘ
linked to:
Jewish Temple
early synagogues ⓘ |
| country | Israel ⓘ |
| culture | Second Temple Judaism ⓘ |
| date | 1st century CE ⓘ |
| discoveredAt | Magdala synagogue excavation ⓘ |
| discoveredBy |
Dina Avshalom-Gorni
ⓘ
Israel Antiquities Authority ⓘ |
| discoveredIn | 2009 ⓘ |
| excavatedAt |
Magdala, Israel
ⓘ
linked to:
Magdala
|
| excavatedBy | Israel Antiquities Authority ⓘ |
| feature |
arched niches
ⓘ
architectural motifs ⓘ carved menorah on one side ⓘ geometric patterns ⓘ possible depiction of the Holy of Holies ⓘ possible depiction of the Temple altar ⓘ possible depiction of the showbread table ⓘ rosette designs ⓘ |
| height | approximately 0.5 meters ⓘ |
| length | approximately 0.6 meters ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Galilee
ⓘ
Magdala ⓘ Magdala archaeological site ⓘ
linked to:
Magdala
Magdala synagogue ⓘ western shore of the Sea of Galilee ⓘ |
| material | limestone ⓘ |
| notableFor |
early Jewish iconography
ⓘ
evidence for Galilean knowledge of the Jerusalem Temple ⓘ rare depictions of the Jerusalem Temple ⓘ unique carved menorah representation ⓘ |
| orientation | originally placed in the center of the synagogue hall ⓘ |
| period |
Second Temple period
ⓘ
linked to:
Jerusalem in the Second Temple period
|
| religion | Judaism ⓘ |
| scholarlyInterpretation |
liturgical table or reading desk
ⓘ
model of the Jerusalem Temple ⓘ symbolic representation of the heavenly Temple ⓘ |
| significance |
earliest known carved image of a menorah from a synagogue context
ⓘ
important for study of Jewish art before 70 CE ⓘ key evidence for early synagogue function as place of worship ⓘ |
| use |
Torah reading support
ⓘ
liturgical focal object ⓘ synagogue worship ⓘ |
| width | approximately 0.5 meters ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Magdala Stone Description of subject: The Magdala Stone is an intricately carved 1st-century CE synagogue stone discovered in Magdala, Israel, notable for its rare depictions related to the Jerusalem Temple and early Jewish worship.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.