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On December 18, a precious treasure of antiquity will go up for auction at Sotheby’s, in New York. It's the kind of artifact that would make Indiana Jones cry out: “It belongs in a museum!” The prize lot of the day will be an ancient stone tablet that bears the oldest extant inscription of the Ten Commandments.
Sotheby’s places the tablet’s origins in the Roman-Byzantine era, dated to between 300 and 800 CE. (The original tablets with which Moses descended Mount Sinai originated between the 16th and 13th centuries BCE.) While Moses is often depicted holding two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments on them, it is unlikely anyone will be able to casually climb mountains with this more recent version, as it weighs in at 115 lbs.
The two-foot tablet was first unearthed in Israel in 1913, during excavations to install a new railway. The site where it was found is known for early synagogues, churches, and mosques. While it is a significant piece of history, the Paleo-Hebrew script it bears was only discovered some 30 years later, after it had been used as a paving stone outside of a local home, with the inscription facing upwards to foot traffic.
In 1943, the inscription was recognized by a scholar as what Sotheby’s describes as “an important Samaritan Decalogue featuring the divine precepts central to many faiths.” It was theorized that the stone may have adorned the entrance of a synagogue or private residence. While the circumstances of the tablet’s burial are unknown, it has been suggested that the site may have been destroyed during the Roman invasions of 400-600 CE or even the Crusades of the 11th century.
The Ten Commandments of the tablet are written in 20 lines that closely resemble the texts of the Christian and Jewish traditions. It only bears nine of the Commandments that we are familiar with, curiously omitting “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.” In its place is the directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, a holy site specific to the Samaritans. The reason for this alteration is also unknown.
Richard Austin, Sotheby’s Global Head of Books and Manuscripts, commented on the lot:
"This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, 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 tablet has been on display at Sotheby’s ahead of the auction since December 5, and will be sold to the highest bidder on December 18. The starting bid appears to be $1 million, but the auction details suggest that the price could swell to at least $2 million before the bidding is done.
