|
The two-foot (61 cm) square slab of white marble weighs about
200 pounds (90 kgs) and is believed to be the oldest existing
stone inscription of the commandments, Dallas-Based Heritage
Auctions said. Opening bid is $250,000 for the stone, which the
current owner likes to point out is not the original.
The tablet is inscribed in Samaritan script with the principles
which are fundamental to Judaism and Christianity. It was
probably chiseled during the late Roman or Byzantine era,
between 300 and 500 A.D., and marked the entrance of an ancient
synagogue that was likely destroyed by the Romans, Heritage said
in a statement.
It was discovered in 1913 during an excavation for a railroad
line in Israel, said Rabbi Shaul Deutsch, founder of the Living
Torah Museum, in Brooklyn, New York, which obtained the tablet
in 2005.
An Arab man, possibly a construction worker, acquired it and set
it in his courtyard, where it remained for three decades,
Deutsch said.
The museum, which contains a large collection of artifacts of
Jewish life and history dating back to antiquity, is shifting
toward a more hands-on focus to attract younger visitors and
decided it was time to sell the artifact.
"The sale will provide us with the money to do what we need to
do. It’s all for the best," Deutsch said in a statement.
The tablet was acquired in 1943 by an archeologist, who owned it
until his death in 2000. Deutsch was able to acquire the tablet
for a temporary period through an agreement with the Israel
Antiquities Authority and then purchased it outright after a
legal settlement, Heritage officials said.
(Reporting by Marice Richter; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and
Andrew Hay)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
