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THE oldest stone tablet known to hold the inscription of the Ten Commandments is set to fetch up to $2 million after being used as a paving slab.
At around 1,500 years old, the marble slab was found in Israel in 1913 but was trodden on for decades after that.
The stone slab was used as a paving stone for decades before its true value was realized[/caption]
The oldest inscribed tablet of the Ten Commandments is set to be auctioned[/caption]
The Late Roman-Byzantine tablet was found during work on a new railway line and was then reused to pave the entrance of a home for 30 years.
The 115-pound and two-foot tall slab was not thought to be special until someone noticed and translated its Paleo-Hebrew inscription.
Paleo-Hebrew is no longer commonly used and with the paving stone placed face-up, it was walked over constantly, making the inscription unclear in places.
The commandments written on the slab make up 20 lines of text from both the Christian and Jewish traditions.
What may come as a surprise is that this tablet is missing one traditional element from the Ten Commandments.
Only nine of those from the Old Testament’s Book of Exodus feature on it.
The third traditional commandment has been left off with another directive in its place.
Usually, the third commandment reads: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in Vain”
Instead, the line on the tablet directs readers to worship on Mount Gerizim, which is a holy site for the Samaritans who were part of Judaism around 3,000 years ago.
Now, the religious stone is set to go on auction in New York next month.
The tablet which will be sold at Sotheby’s auction house is hoped to get up to $2 million or £1.57 million.
Southebys has described the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus as the “cornerstone of law and morality” and the “founding text of Western civilisation.”
Before the auction, it will be on display at the auction house’s showroom from December 5.
ORIGINS
It was previously sold in 1943 to an unnamed scholar.
Sotheby’s told CNN in a statement: “The scholar recognized it as an important Samaritan Decalogue featuring the divine precepts central to many faiths, one that may have originally been displayed in a synagogue or a private dwelling.”
It is believed to have originally been part of a synagogue which was destroyed either in a Roman invasion between 400 and 600 AD or in the Crusades in the 11th Century.
When the new railway line was being dug in Israel, the slab was found near the sites of early religious buildings including mosques, synagogues, and churches.
Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts, said in the press statement:
“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artefact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization.
“To encounter this shared piece of cultural heritage is to journey through millennia and connect with cultures and faiths told through one of humanity’s earliest and most enduring moral codes.”
The auction will take place on December 18.
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