The oldest stone slab known to bear an inscription of the Ten Commandments is set to fetch up to $2 million after being used as a paving slab.
The nearly 1,500-year-old marble slab was found in Israel in 1913, but was trampled on for decades afterward.
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After being found during excavation for a railway line, the late Roman Byzantine slab was used to pave the entrance to the house for 30 years.
The two-foot-long slab weighs 115 pounds, and was not thought to be special until someone noticed and translated its ancient Hebrew inscription.
Ancient Hebrew was no longer a commonly used writing system, and with the paving stone placed face up, it was heavily trampled upon.
The inscription on the stone, which is twenty lines long, combines Christian and Jewish traditions.
But this tablet containing the oldest known inscription of the Testaments is missing a crucial element.
Only nine commandments from the Old Testament Book of Exodus are on the stone.
The third phrase, which states, “You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain,” has been deleted.
Instead, he directs his followers to worship at Mount Gerizim, a sacred site for Samaritans who broke away from mainstream Judaism about 3,000 years ago.
However, the two religions adhere to similar religious practices and look to a similar version of the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament for Christians.
Now, the religious stone is set to be auctioned in New York the next month.
The tablet, which will be sold at Sotheby's auction house, is expected to fetch up to $2 million, or £1.57 million.
In 1943 it was sold to an unnamed researcher who knew about it date.
“The world has viewed them as important Samaritan testaments displaying the divine principles central to many religions, which may have originally been displayed in a Jewish synagogue or private residence,” Sotheby's told CNN in a statement.
Prior to the auction, it will be on display in the auction house's showroom from December 5.
Sotheby's described the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus as “the cornerstone of… law “Ethics” and “the foundational text of Western civilization.”
Origins
It is believed to have originally been part of a synagogue that was destroyed either in the Roman invasion between 400 and 600 AD or in the Crusades in the 11th century.
When the new railway was being dug in Israel, the slab was found near the sites of early religious buildings including mosques, synagogues and synagogues. Churches.
Richard Austin, global head of books and manuscripts at Sotheby's, said in the press release:
“This magnificent tablet is not only a historical artifact of great importance, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilisation.
“Encountering this shared part of cultural heritage means journeying through millennia and connecting with cultures and religions informed by one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring moral codes.”
The auction will be held on December 18.
