Sotheby’s is set to auction off the world’s oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
The Tablet
The 155-pound (52-kilogram) marble slab, engraved with the Ten Commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script, is set to be auctioned on December 18.
Discovered in 1913 during railroad excavations along Israel’s southern coast, the tablet initially went unrecognized as a historically significant artifact.
“The Ten Commandments: The earliest surviving inscribed tablet of the Ten Commandments, incised during the late Roman-Byzantine era, The Holy Land, (ca. 300–800 CE),” Sotheby’s wrote in a description of the product. “The Only Complete Example Of A Ten Commandments Tablet From This Early Period.”
The description added, “White marble tablet, approximately 24 ⅞ x 22 ⅛ x 2 ⅜ inches (632 x 562 x 62 mm), weighing approximately 115 pounds (52 kg), neatly chisel-inscribed with the Mosaic Ten Commandments in their Israelite Samaritan version, 20 lines in a Paleo-Hebrew script, each line containing between eleven and fifteen characters, with margins of about 10 cm on either side.”
According to Sotheby’s, the tablet served as a paving stone in a local home until 1943, when a scholar recognized its historical significance and purchased it.
AP Photo/Richard Drew/AP Photo/Richard Drew
The inscription on the slab closely mirrors the Biblical verses recognized in both Christian and Jewish traditions but notably omits the third commandment prohibiting the misuse of the Lord’s name. Instead, it features an additional directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, a site sacred to the Samaritans, according to Sotheby’s.
“The Yavne Tablet is not simply the earliest surviving complete inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments, but the text it preserves represents the spirit, precision and concision of the Decalogue in what is believed to be its earliest and original formulation,” Sotheby’s said. “The Ten Commandments are by any measure one of the most widely known and influential texts in the vast canon of the world’s written word, taking primacy in disciplines ranging from religion to literature to philosophy to law to ethics to pedagogy and beyond.”
The Auction
Sotheby’s estimates the tablet will fetch between $1 million and $2 million at auction.
Similar Auctions
Last month, a rare “double eagle” coin was recently sold at an auction in California for over $1 million. Before 1849, the largest denomination for a gold coin was the $10 eagle. The $20 double eagle was introduced following the California Gold Rush, which significantly boosted the nation’s gold supply, explained Kraljevich to The Associated Press (AP).
When the $20 double eagle hit the auction block, bidding had already soared to $800,850, surpassing all other items in the catalog. The coin, part of the Bernard Richards collection, is the highest-graded example of its kind, according to the Professional Coin Grading Service. Despite its rarity, the final sale fell short of expectations that it might surpass the $2 million mark.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
