Jews Antedated Hungarians by Five Centuries

Three ancient, time-worn stone monuments have recently been discovered in central Hungary which throw new light on the antiquity of Jewish settlements there, as all three date from the third century of the present era. According to Austrian and Hungarian scholars who have deciphered the inscriptions, it would appear that Jews were established in Hungary at least five hundred years prior to the coming of the Hungarians in the ninth century.

All three monuments are now in the Hungarian-Jewish land-museum of Budapest. The oldest dates from the beginning of the third century. It was discovered on the estate of the Hungarian Archbishop Seredi and is evidently a tombstone. It bears the name of the deceased “Judatus” and his wife, and, above the inscription, a seven-branched cardlestick or Menora is engraved. This, it is agreed by archaeologists, was extensively used as a Jewish symbol by the Jews of that period.

The second monument, although discovered some years ago near Budapest was only recently deciphered by Prof. Krauss, of Vienna. The inscription consists of two Menora candlesticks, the names of the deceased, and the words “Heis Theos” in Roman characters. Prof. Krauss interprets the two mysterious words as the Greek translation of the Hebrew words “Adonoi Echad” (God is only one) written in Roman letters.

The third monument is inscribed in Latin, in praise of the Roman Emperor Severus, who ruled from 222 to 235 of the present era. It is signed “Spondilla, Prefect of the Station and of the Synagogue of Jews.” From the text Dr. Krauss infers that “Spondilla” was the name of the Jewish chief of a Roman outpost consisting of Jewish soldiers from Syria and that evidently a Jewish settlement must also have existed in this military community in the Roman frontier of those days.