- published: 25 Jan 2013
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An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns continuously for an indefinite period. An iconic example, the flame that burned at Delphi, was in fact an archaic feature "alien to the ordinary Greek temple". Nevertheless, there were many contemporary examples common to such surrounding peoples as the Persians and the Israelites.
The eternal fire is a long-held tradition in many cultures and religions. In ancient Iran the atar was tended by a dedicated priest and represented the concept of "divine sparks" or amesha spenta as understood in Zoroastrianism. Period sources indicate that three "great fires" existed in the Achaemenid era of Persian history, which are considered collectively to be the earliest reference to the practice of creating ever-burning community fires.
In China, it has at times been common to establish an eternally lit lamp as a visible aspect of ancestor veneration, in which case it is set in front of a spirit tablet on the family's ancestral altar.
The eternal flame was a component of the religious rituals performed in the Israelite's Jerusalem temple, where the menorah, a seven branched candelabra, burned continuously. In Jewish tradition, the practice began when the Hebrew prophet Moses oversaw the construction of the original menorah for the Israelite Tabernacle in the desert (see Leviticus 6:12: And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.) Even though the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in AD 70, modern Judaism continues the tradition by having a sanctuary lamp, the ner tamid, always lit above the ark in the synagogue. After World War II, such flames gained meaning as a reminder of the six million Jews killed by Hitler and his allies.