The world's earliest-known complete stone inscription of the Ten Commandments has been sold at an auction in Beverly Hills, California, for $850,000.
The two-foot-square marble slab weighs about 115 pounds and it lists nine of the 10 commonly known commandments.
The two-foot-square marble slab weighs about 115 pounds and it lists nine of the 10 commonly known commandments.
The tablet, also known as the "national treasure" of Israel, probably adorned the entrance of a synagogue destroyed by the Romans between 400 and 600 A.D. or by the crusaders in the 11th century.
It's inscribed with early Hebrew script, called Samaritan, and leaves out the command "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" and includes one employed by the Samaritan sect of that time, CNBC reports.
The tablet was one of a number of Biblical artifacts up for auction from the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn, New York.
It's inscribed with early Hebrew script, called Samaritan, and leaves out the command "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" and includes one employed by the Samaritan sect of that time, CNBC reports.
The tablet was one of a number of Biblical artifacts up for auction from the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn, New York.
The opening bid for the tablet started at $300,000 and the only condition for the sale of the artifact, is that it will be displayed in a public museum.
"The sale of this tablet does not mean it will be hidden away from the public," David Michaels, Heritage Auctions director of ancient coins and antiquities, said. "The new owner is under obligation to display the tablet for the benefit of the public."
The winning bidder did not wish to be identified.
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