A stone tablet with the Ten Commandments, more than 1,500 years old, was sold at Sotheby’s for $5.04 million.
On Wednesday, December 18, the oldest known tablet of the Ten Commandments was sold at Sotheby’s in New York, CNN reports.
The artifact, which is nearly 1,500 years old, went under the hammer for a record $5.04 million, doubling the previous mark.
The buyer is an anonymous benefactor who plans to donate the tablet to an institution in Israel. According to Richard Austin, head of Sotheby’s books and manuscripts department, this artifact is not only a historical monument, but also an important symbol of beliefs that influenced the development of Western civilization.
The tablet, found in 1913 during the construction of a railroad in Israel, has been used as paving stones for a long time. Only in 1943 was it recognized as a cultural property. It contains the ten commandments of the Bible, rendered in Paleo-Hebrew letters, but instead of the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” the tablet contains a call to worship the God on Mount Gerizim, sacred to the Samaritans.
The table, which weighs more than 50 kg and is 60 cm high, probably once decorated a synagogue or home. Today it is one of the most important evidences of the religious heritage of mankind.
It was previously reported that a 22 m long Apatosaurus skeleton was sold at auction in France for nearly 6 million euros.
Source: korrespondent
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