Oldest known stone tablet inscribed with Ten Commandments to be auctioned
Sharon Liberman Mintz, Sotheby's Judaica Specialist, Books & Manuscripts, discusses the oldest complete tablet of the Ten Commandments, weighing 115-pounds and approximately 1,500 years old, that is displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, where it is to be offered for auction in a single lot sale, Dec, 18, 2024. Credit: AP/Richard Drew
NEW YORK — The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments, dating from 300 to 800 A.D., will be sold in New York this month, Sotheby's auction house said.
The 155-pound (52-kilogram) marble slab inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script will be auctioned on Dec. 18.
The tablet was unearthed during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913 and was at first not recognized as a historically significant artifact.
It was used as a paving stone at a local home until 1943 when it was sold to a scholar who grasped its significance, Sotheby's said.
The text inscribed on the slab follows the Biblical verses familiar to Christian and Jewish traditions but omits the third commandment against taking the name of the Lord in vain. It includes a new directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, a holy site specific to the Samaritans, Sotheby's said.
Sotheby's is estimating that the tablet will be auctioned for $1 million to $2 million.
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