Trilingual basin

The trilingual basin is one of the best-known pieces in our collections; it was found in Tarragona and dated to the 5th century, which attests to the presence of Jewish communities in the Iberian Peninsula already during the late Roman period.
It has a rectangular shape with a double hole and its exterior front is decorated with Jewish symbols. In the centre is a menorah or seven-branched candelabrum; to its right is a plant motif identified as the tree of life and to its left is a line at a right angle that has been interpreted as a shofar (liturgical horn). Flanking these motifs and closing the composition are two peacocks, symbols of the resurrection.
Accompanying this representation is a triple inscription; one in Hebrew with the message “Peace upon Israel and upon us and upon our children”; another in Latin “Peace”; and a third in Greek, illegible due to its deterioration.
The use that this piece may have had has been the subject of debate over the years. Some critics believe that it was an ablution basin, while others argue that we are dealing with a child's sarcophagus or ossuary that was later reused as a basin.