The historic artifact will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s on Wednesday, Dec. 18
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A stone tablet containing the Ten Commandments is going up for auction.
The historic artifact, which dates back to the late Roman-Byzantine era, will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s on Wednesday, Dec. 18, according to the auction house.
The 115-lb. tablet “was unearthed in 1913 during railway excavations along the southern coast of the Land of Israel,” and has an estimated value of $1 million to $2 million.
The tablet’s original location “was likely destroyed during either the Roman invasions of 400-600 CE or the later Crusades of the 11th century,” Sotheby’s said.
The stone itself dates back to between 300 and 800 C.E.
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“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization,” said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s Global Head of Books and Manuscripts.
Austin added, “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.”
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There are 20 lines of text featured on the tablet that “closely follow the Biblical verses familiar to both Christian and Jewish traditions.”
However, “only nine of the commandments as found in the Book of Exodus.” The only commandment omitted was “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.”
In its place, according to Sotheby’s, is an order “to worship on Mount Gerizim, a holy site specific to the Samaritans.”
The tablet went on display at Sotheby’s New York on Thursday, Dec. 5, and will remain on display through Tuesday, Dec. 17.
“An extraordinary treasure from antiquity, inscribed with the moral code that underpins Western civilization, this stone tablet is a bridge between faiths, regions, and eras,” Sotheby’s said.
