Oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sells for over $5m
Winning bid is far higher than predicted; anonymous buyer will donate Samaritan-linked slab to Israeli institution, while some question its authenticity
NEW YORK — The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sold for more than $5 million at an auction on Wednesday.
Sotheby’s said the 115-pound (52-kilogram) marble slab was acquired by an anonymous buyer who plans to donate it to an Israeli institution.
The New York-based auction house said the final price exceeded the presale estimate of $1 million to $2 million and followed more than 10 minutes of “intense bidding” during the global competition.
The tablet dates from 300 to 800 CE and is inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script — the only complete example of its kind from antiquity, according to Sotheby’s.
It was unearthed during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913 and was not recognized as historically significant at first.
Sotheby’s said the tablet was used as a paving stone at a local home until 1943, when it was sold to a scholar who grasped its significance.
“A tangible link to ancient beliefs that have profoundly shaped global religious and cultural traditions, it serves as a rare testament to history,” the auction house said.
The text inscribed on the slab follows the biblical verses familiar to Jewish and Christian 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.
The text is consistent with Samaritan tradition, which survives today, among a small community that mostly lives in the West Bank and includes Israelis and Palestinians.
Some experts doubt the authenticity of the slab, The New York Times reported on Friday.
The report noted that many fake items come from the Middle East and that it was not uncovered in an archaeological excavation.
The Times report also noted that the inscription is written in a version of Paleo-Hebrew, an alphabet that was replaced among mainstream Jews by a variant of the Aramaic alphabet more than 2,000 years ago.
Use of the older alphabet, however, is consistent with Samaritan origins, as that group has continued to use an alphabet directly descended from Paleo-Hebrew. It was not clear from media reports what particular form of Paleo-Hebrew, or potentially Samaritan, the inscription is written in.
