On December 18, Sotheby’s will auction a rare and historically significant artifact: the oldest known inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments. Dating back to the Late Byzantine period, this marble tablet is approximately 1,500 years old and is the only complete version of the Ten Commandments from this era still in existence. Measuring two feet in height and weighing 115 pounds, the tablet is inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew script.
Unearthed in 1913 during railway excavations along the southern coast of Israel, the tablet was initially unrecognized for its importance and used as a paving stone for thirty years. In 1943, a scholar identified it as a Samaritan Decalogue, which closely follows the Biblical commandments but omits the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain” and includes a directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, significant to the Samaritan faith.
The tablet will be on public display at Sotheby’s New York from December 5, with an estimated value between $1 million and $2 million.
