Nobody recognized the significance of this marble slab until decades after its discovery.
The oldest-known stone tablet featuring an inscription of the Ten Commandments is going to auction, where experts think it could sell for around $2 million. The 1,500-year-old marble slab was discovered in 1913 during a railway excavation along the southern coast of what is now Israel.
The tablet features 20 lines of Paleo-Hebrew script. It stands about two feet tall and weighs 115 pounds. It dates to between 300 and 500 C.E. and was unearthed near the locations of early synagogues, mosques and churches.
However, for many years after the artifact’s discovery, no one understood the extent of the tablet’s historical significance. According to Sotheby’s, someone once used it as a paving stone at the entrance of their house. The inscription, which faced upwards, sustained damage as guests walked on it.
In 1943, its circumstances finally changed. Y. Kaplan, a municipal archaeologist, bought the slab and realized that it was a rare text known as a Samaritan Decalogue. It was made by the Samaritans, an ancient group whose beliefs are rooted in the Old Testament. Unlike Jews, however, they believe that God’s dwelling place is Mount Gerizim in the present-day West Bank, rather than Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
Most of the text on the marble reflects biblical verses “familiar to both Christian and Jewish traditions,” Sotheby’s says. However, it only lists nine of the commonly known commandments, leaving out “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.” In its place is a directive to worship at Mount Gerizim.
“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization,” says Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts.
Sotheby’s will sell the tablet on 18 December.