By Free Republic | Created at 2024-11-16 17:37:33 | Updated at 2024-11-16 19:52:21
2 hours ago
Archaeologist Takes Closer Look at Sidewalk Stone, Realizes It's Ancient Bible Artifact, Now Worth $2 Million
Western Journal ^ | November 15, 2024 | Ole Braatelien
Posted on 11/16/2024 9:32:27 AM PST by george76
For decades it was merely a sidewalk stone at a home in the Middle East, its significance unbeknownst to its owner.
Now, the oldest inscribed tablet of the Ten Commandments is set to auction for $1 million to $2 million...
The relic is the only complete tablet of the Ten Commandments in existence from the Late Byzantine period, which ranged from 300–800 A.D.
...
Sotheby’s is set to auction the 1,500-year-old piece on Dec. 18.
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This is really one-of-a-kind,” Mintz said. “It’s one of the most important historic artifacts that I’ve ever handled.”
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The marble relic weighs a hefty 115 pounds and stands two feet tall.
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Twenty lines of Paleo-Hebrew text are etched into the stone, with nine of the Ten Commandments being visible..
One commandment has been replaced with a much different instruction...
Instead of “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain,” the tablet instructs followers to worship on Mount Gerizim, a site holy to the Samaritans.
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After its discovery, it was sold to a local Arab and subsequently used as a sidewalk stone for his home — its inscription facing up and exposed to foot traffic
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“People didn’t realize the significance of it. It looked like just a big marble slab
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Then, in 1943, an archaeologist recognized the true value of the stone and purchased it.
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“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization,” said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts.
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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...
TOPICS: History; Outdoors; Religion; Science
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1 posted on 11/16/2024 9:32:27 AM PST by george76
To: george76
SO that’s where Charlton Heston left it.
2 posted on 11/16/2024 9:34:15 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
To: george76; SunkenCiv
Maybe it’s commandments 11 through 15 before Mel Brooks as Moses dropped them.
3 posted on 11/16/2024 9:35:33 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
To: Larry Lucido
:^) I think that gag originated with Shel Silverstein. ;^)
4 posted on 11/16/2024 9:37:07 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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