An ancient stone tablet inscribed with nine of the Ten Commandments was sold for $5.04 million at a Sotheby's auction on Wednesday night, amid ongoing debates over its authenticity. The tablet, weighing 52 kg (115 pounds) and described by Sotheby's as the oldest in existence, dates back to between 300 and 800 CE, according to the South China Morning Post.
The anonymous bidder emerged victorious after an intense bidding war lasting over ten minutes, with the price quickly escalating to $4.2 million before reaching the final sale amount. The buyer plans to donate the relic to an Israeli institution for public display, as reported by The New York Times.
Discovered by chance in 1913 during railway construction near Yavne, the slab is carved in an early version of Hebrew known as Paleo-Hebrew and engraved with 20 lines of ancient Hebrew text, according to The Sun. However, despite the high sale price, questions surrounding the tablet's authenticity and doubts regarding its purported provenance have been expressed by some experts.
Dr. Brian Daniels commented on the uncertainties. “Maybe it's absolutely authentic, and this truly is a historic find," he said, also noting the lack of definitive proof of the tablet's authenticity, as reported by The New York Times. "Objects from this region of the world are rife with fakes," he said.
Similarly, Dr. Christopher Rollston, a classical civilizations academic at George Washington University, expressed skepticism about the tablet's purported age. “Sotheby’s is stating that this Samaritan Ten Commandments inscription is circa 1,500 years old. But there is no way that this can be known," he told The New York Times. He added that the narratives of such artifacts' discoveries are often fabricated to lend them an air of authenticity.
The tablet replaces the traditional third commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," with an instruction to worship God on Mount Gerizim, a site sacred to the Samaritan community. This unusual directive raised eyebrows among scholars. Dr. Rollston suggested that the inclusion of surprising content could be a tactic used by forgers to generate interest. “Forgers during the past 150 years, when they fabricate their forgeries, often throw in surprising content. And they do this so as to garner more interest in their forgery," he explained to The New York Times.
Despite the skepticism, Sotheby's defended the verification of the piece. "Sotheby's regularly undertakes due diligence procedures to authenticate and determine the provenance of property prior to accepting it for sale, and the research into this property was no different," the auction house stated, according to The Sun. Selby Kiffer, Sotheby's senior specialist for books and manuscripts, emphasized the importance of the Paleo-Hebrew script and the wear patterns on the stone as indicators of its age. "The script is a key to it. We know when it went out of common usage," Kiffer told The New York Times.
The tablet's journey includes being transferred to an Israeli antiquities dealer in 1995 and later sold to Rabbi Shaul Deutsch, who transported it to the United States and displayed it in his Brooklyn museum, as reported by The Sun. In 2016, collector Mitchell S. Cappell purchased the tablet for $850,000 and later sold it at the Sotheby's auction, where there was exceptional interest from bidders across Asia, Europe, Israel, and the United States, according to The New York Times.
Questions also arise about the story of the tablet's discovery. The lack of records supporting its unearthing during railway construction has led some experts to question this narrative. Dr. Rollston cautioned, “Such narratives are often fabricated by dealers or forgers to lend artifacts an air of authenticity," as reported by The New York Times.
The tablet was not initially recognized as an incredibly rare artifact and was laid down as a paving slab at the entrance of a home for thirty years, causing partial erosion of its inscription, according to The Sun. Jacob Kaplan, who discovered the tablet, noted that its use as a paving stone contributed to the wear and weathering observed on its surface.
Sotheby's described the tablet as a "bridge between cultures, beliefs, and generations" and a "cornerstone of law and morality," highlighting its significance in Western culture, The Sun reported. Richard Austin of Sotheby's remarked, "To stand before this tablet is an experience unlike any other—it offers a direct connection to the shared roots of faith and culture that continue to shape our world today," according to The New York Times.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.