Oldest Inscribed Tablet of the Ten Commandments to Auction

Dating to the Late Byzantine period and approximately 1,500 years old, Sotheby’s will auction the oldest inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments next month with an estimate of $1-$2m.

It is the only complete tablet of the Ten Commandments still extant from this early era (ca. 300-800 CE) and will be offered as a single-lot sale on December 18.  

Weighing 115 pounds and approximately 2ft high, the marble tablet inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew script was unearthed in 1913 during railway excavations along the southern coast of the Land of Israel, near the sites of early synagogues, mosques, and churches. The significance of the discovery went unrecognized for many decades, and for thirty years it served as a paving stone at the entrance to a local home, with the inscription facing upwards and exposed to foot traffic.

In 1943, the tablet was sold to a scholar who recognized it as an important Samaritan Decalogue featuring the divine precepts central to many faiths, one that may have originally been displayed in a synagogue or a private dwelling. The original site of the tablet was likely destroyed during either the Roman invasions of 400-600 CE or the later Crusades of the 11th century.

The 20 lines of text incised on the stone closely follow the Biblical verses familiar to both Christian and Jewish traditions. However, this tablet contains only nine of the commandments as found in the Book of Exodus, omitting the admonition “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain” while including a new directive, to worship on Mount Gerizim, a holy site specific to the Samaritans.

"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 & Manuscripts.

It will be on public display at Sotheby’s New York from December 5.