'Helped shape Western civilization': Oldest stone tablet of the Ten Commandments up for auction — could be worth millions



The oldest-known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments that includes 20 lines closely related to biblical texts is going to auction.

Sotheby’s will auction "one of the most widely known and influential texts in history" on Dec. 18.

'To encounter this shared piece of cultural heritage is to journey through millennia and connect with cultures and faiths told through one of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes.'

The prestigious auction house is putting up the ancient stone tablet featuring an inscription of the Ten Commandments in a single-lot sale.

Experts believe the cherished artifact — which is thought to be approximately 1,500 years old — could command between $1 million and $2 million.

The last time the stone tablet was up for sale was in 2016, when the artifact was sold for $850,000 at a Heritage Auction in Beverly Hills, California.

The world’s earliest-known complete stone inscription of the Ten Commandments was rediscovered in 1913 during the construction of a railway near Israel's southern coast, near the sites of early synagogues, mosques, and churches.

Amazingly, the precious relic was a paving stone at the entrance to a local home, with the inscription facing upwards and exposed to foot traffic.

“Some of the letters of the central part of the inscription are blurred — but still readable under proper lighting — either from the conditions of its burial or foot traffic while it was resting in the courtyard,” David Michaels, director of ancient coins for Heritage Auctions, told CNN in 2016.

In 1943, the stone tablet was purchased by Y. Kaplan, a municipal archaeologist. According to Smithsonian Magazine, Kaplan identified the slab as a Samaritan Decalogue — an important piece of religious history.

The precious antiquity was reportedly carved by the Samaritans circa 300-500 AD.

The Samaritans were an ancient group of people who lived in the central region of the land of Israel and whose beliefs were rooted in the Old Testament.

The Samaritan Decalogue is similar to the Jewish Ten Commandments but focuses on the religious sanctity of Mount Gerizim instead of Mount Zion.

The artifact from the late Byzantine period only lists nine of the commandments found in the Book of Exodus, omitting “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.”

Archaeologists believe the original site of the stone tablet was likely destroyed during either the Roman invasions of 400-600 AD or during the Crusades in the 11th century.

The stone slab weighs 115 pounds and stands approximately two feet in height. The marble tablet is chiseled in Paleo-Hebrew script.

The slab of white marble — described as a “national treasure” of Israel — features 20 lines of text incised on the stone that closely follow the biblical verses "familiar to both Christian and Jewish traditions," according to Sotheby's.

Sharon Liberman Mintz — Sotheby’s international senior specialist of Judaica, books, and manuscripts — told ARTnews, "We understood how powerful the object was, and we were really thrilled to be able to offer it for sale to the public."

“This is really one-of-a-kind," Mintz added. "It's one of the most important historic artifacts that I’ve ever handled."

Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts, said in a statement, "This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization. To encounter this shared piece of cultural heritage is to journey through millennia and connect with cultures and faiths told through one of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes.”

The stone tablet with the Ten Commandments will be on public display at Sotheby’s in New York City beginning on Dec. 5.

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'A king will die': 4,000-year-old Babylonian tablets finally deciphered to reveal disastrous omens



Researchers have finally deciphered a set of 4,000-year-old Babylonian tablets that had ominous omens of doom and destruction.

The four clay tablets dating back some 4,000 years likely originated in Sipparan — an ancient Babylonian city southwest of what is now Baghdad, Iraq.

'There will be an attack on the land by a locust swarm.'

The Babylonian tablets were written in cuneiform — the earliest system of writing that was developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia around 3,400 to 3,300 BCE. The term "cuneiform" comes from the Latin word cuneus, meaning "wedge," and forma, meaning "shape," referring to the wedge-shaped formations made by a stylus on the soft clay tablets.

The British Museum acquired the tablets between 1892 and 1914. However, the tablets have never been fully translated until now.

The translation of the ancient artifacts was recently published in a paper featured in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies. The paper was written by Andrew George, an emeritus professor of Babylonian at the University of London, and Junko Taniguchi, an independent researcher.

The paper titled "Old Babylonian Lunar-Eclipse Omen Tablets in the British Museum" declares that the artifacts are "the oldest examples of compendia of lunar-eclipse omens yet discovered and thus provide important new information about celestial divination among the peoples of southern Mesopotamia in the early second millennium BCE."

The paper reads: "They are all found to bear witness to a single text, which organizes the omens of lunar eclipse by time of night, movement of shadow, duration, and date."

The Babylonians were deeply driven by astrology and invented the 12 zodiac signs and the horoscope.

Babylonians recorded the movements of the celestial bodies, the stars, and planets and recognized patterns in them. They believed celestial phenomena were divine signs from the gods and could predict joyous and catastrophic events.

One of the most significant celestial phenomena for the ancient people was lunar eclipses — when Earth’s shadow falls on the surface of the full moon. The Babylonians were able to predict lunar eclipses with fair accuracy for the time.

Babylonians believed that "events in the sky were coded signs placed there by the gods as warnings about the future prospects of those on earth," George and Taniguchi wrote in the paper. "Those who advised the king kept watch on the night sky and would match their observations with the academic corpus of celestial-omen texts."

According to NASA, Babylonians believed lunar eclipses meant evil omens were coming that involved their kings.

The Babylonians went as far as appointing substitute kings so they would be the victims of the wrath of the gods instead of the real king. The substitute king was reportedly killed so the omen was always correct.

The tablets claim that if "an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once [and] clear all at once, a king will die, destruction of Elam,” referring to a region that is now located in modern-day Iran.

A prediction proclaims if there is "an eclipse begins in the south and then clears" that it will result in the "downfall of Subartu and Akkad," referring to two other regions of the time.

Another omen warns that "a dearth of straw will occur; there will be losses of cattle" if an eclipse occurs on a certain day of the month.

"There will be an attack on the land by a locust swarm," one omen reads.

The tablet text foresees that a "large army will fall" if a lunar eclipse occurs.

George told Live Science, "The origins of some of the omens may have lain in actual experience — observation of portent followed by catastrophe."

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'Monumental' fortification that protected Jerusalem's biblical kings discovered, reveals hidden history from 3,000 years ago



Archaeologists have uncovered a "monumental" fortification that protected Jerusalem's biblical kings some 3,000 years ago. The "dramatic" archaeological discovery solved a 150-year-old mystery in the City of David.

Since 2007, archaeologists have been excavating the area around the Givati Parking Lot, the largest active archaeological excavation in Jerusalem today. The excavation site on the northwestern side of the City of David has unearthed different layers of the city's life from the Middle Ages to ancient times.

'The creation of the moat was a large-scale, monumental operation, designed ... to demonstrate the power of Jerusalem’s rulers to those who entered its gates.'

The most recent archaeological find is the remnants of a moat that split the City of David in half — separating the king's palace and Temple Mount from the rest of the city, including the Ophel in Jerusalem.

The fortification aligns with the city's division noted in the Bible as Ophel and Millo. In the first Book of Kings (11:27), King Solomon described a fortification known as Millo.

"And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the City of David his father," the Bible verse reads.

Archaeologists had been searching for the route of Jerusalem's northern fortification for 150 years. However, the recent excavation finally solved the riddle and revealed a city-dividing moat with unclimbable perpendicular cliffs on both sides.

“It is not known when the moat was first dug, but it is clear that it was used during the centuries when Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah – almost 3,000 years ago, starting from the days of King Josiah,” said Tel Aviv University professor Yuval Gadot and Israel Antiquities Authority’s Dr. Yiftach Shalu.

The archaeologists added, “During those years, it divided between the extension of the city that spread to the south and was served as the residence of the people of Jerusalem and the Acropolis – the upper city, which was where the palace and the temple were located and stood on the Temple Mount, to the north.”

“The connection of the two exposed sections creates a deep and wide trench that stretches across About 70 meters at least, from west to east,” Gadot noted. “Following the dramatic discovery, we reexamined the past excavations reports written by the British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated in the City of David in the 1960s, in an area located slightly east of today’s Givati Parking Lot.”

Gadot said the "dramatic discovery" has opened up a "renewed discussion of terms from biblical literature that relate to the topography of Jerusalem," which includes Ophel and Millo.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said of the engineering efforts involved in the moat's construction, “The creation of the moat was a large-scale, monumental operation, designed to change and modify the natural topography to demonstrate the power of Jerusalem’s rulers to those who entered its gates.”

Israel Antiquities Authority Director Eli Escusido said in a press release, "The excavations in the City of David never cease to amaze; once again, discoveries are being revealed that shed new and vivid light on the biblical literature. When you stand at the bottom of this giant excavation, surrounded by enormous hewn walls, it is impossible not to be filled with wonder and appreciation for those ancient people who, about 3,800 years ago, literally moved mountains and hills."

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Archaeological discovery backs up epic battle from 2,700 years ago documented in the Bible



An archaeological discovery has seemingly corroborated an epic battle that took place some 2,700 years ago and is documented in the Bible.

King Sennacherib's Assyrian troops attempted a siege of Jerusalem approximately 2,700 years ago. King Hezekiah of Judah allegedly prayed for a miracle to save the city from being captured.

As per the Bible, an "angel of the Lord" descended on the invading Assyrian troops attempting to besiege Jerusalem. The "angel of the Lord" allegedly "struck down" 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a single night. Sennacherib – the king of Assyria – realized the devastation and was forced into a military retreat. The "angel of the Lord" allegedly prevented an Assyrian conquest of Jerusalem, according to accounts detailed in 2 Kings 19:35 and Isaiah 37:36.

2 Kings 19:35:

"And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses."

Historical records do indicate that there was an attempted Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. However, Sennacherib's Annals claim that Assyrian troops returned to Assyria after receiving tribute from King Hezekiah. He was purportedly allowed to stay in power as a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire – which included present-day Iraq, as well as parts of Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Kuwait.

Archaeologists had previously discovered a scene carved into the stone walls of King Sennacherib's palace, which displayed the Assyrian conquest of Lachish – a city 42 miles south of Jerusalem. The carvings showed how the Assyrian military bases were laid out.

Archaeologist Stephen Compton carefully examined these ancient engravings to determine the locations of ancient military camps set up by King Sennacherib in the Levant.

Compton wrote a peer-reviewed paper titled "The Trail of Sennacherib’s Siege Camps," which was recently published in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology. In the paper, Compton mapped out the likely locations for the ancient Assyrian military camps, from around 700 B.C.

Compton utilized aerial photographs of Lachish from World War II, landscape images, satellite imagery, onsite surveys, ancient pottery, and archaeological data to create a virtual map of Sennacherib's camps.

After Sennacherib's invasion of Lachish, the ruins near the city were abandoned for approximately 2,600 years. The ancient Arabic name for the ruins was "Khirbet al Mudawwara," meaning "The Ruins of the Camp of the Invading Ruler." Based on the discovery of pottery sherds from a period of prehistory known as the Chalcolithic, Compton suspects that the ruins were an Assyrian military camp used for the invasion and then abandoned after the city was conquered.

There was similar ruins north of Jerusalem, which was on a hill that was known in Arabic as "Jebel el Mudawwara," or "The Mountain of the Camp of the Invading Ruler."

Some archaeologists believed the ruins were a Roman military camp built by Titus during the later Roman invasion of Jerusalem. However, Compton noted that Roman military camps were always rectangular, but Assyrian military camps were an oval shape.

"We knew it was an oval. What I did was I took the image of the relief and match it up with recognizable features in the landscape with the actual landscape and overlayed the two," Compton told Fox News. "I used earlier photographs of the landscape from World War II, right before major changes were made. And it was a match."

Using the location of the military camps, Compton said that he had determined the location of two lost ancient cities – Libnah and Nob, Both cities were known to have been conquered by the Assyrians, but whose exact locations were uncertain. Nob was described as a "city of priests" near Jerusalem in 1 Samuel 22:19. Compton said Nob "held the tabernacle, the holiest site in Judaism prior to the construction of the temple."

Compton – an independent scholar specializing in Near Eastern archaeology – believes that the sites of the Assyrian military camps tell the story of where Sennacherib's armies invaded and conquered. He concluded that the discovery of the military camps proves that King Sennacherib's infamous siege of Jerusalem did happen.

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Archaeologists unearth ancient sword from 3,000 years ago at German burial site in 'extraordinary' condition



Archaeologists unearthed an ancient sword at a German burial site that is believed to be more than 3,000 years old. The Bronze Age sword is said to be in such remarkable condition that it "almost still shines."

An "extraordinary" bronze sword with an ornate octagonal hilt was discovered during excavations last week in Nördlingen, Germany – between Nuremberg and Stuttgart. The sword was found at a grave site said to have the remains of three people – a man, woman, and young person. Archaeologists believe the trio were buried shortly after one another, but it is not clear as to their relationship to each another. There are also several arrowheads in the burial mound.

The sword is believed to date back to the end of the 14th century BC — the middle of the Bronze Age.

Bavaria's State Office for Monument Protection noted that the sword is in such impressive condition that it "almost still shines."

"The sword and the burial still need to be examined so that our archeologists can categorize this find more precisely. But we can already say that the state of preservation is extraordinary. A find like this is very rare," said Mathias Pfeil, head of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, according to the Associated Press.

The German website Welt noted:

The manufacture of such octagonal swords was complex because the handle was cast over the blade. Two of the recognizable rivets are real connections, the other two are only suggested. Despite the effort involved in making it and the lack of any traces of a blow, the Bavarian archaeologists assume that it was a real weapon, not just a showpiece. The center of gravity in the front part of the blade indicates that this sword was primarily aimed at slashing.

The Jerusalem Post reported, "The sword, which had a greenish color, contains both bronze and copper. Over time, the copper oxidized to create the unique color."

Archaeologists believe that the sword’s components were crafted in southern Germany, northern Germany, and Denmark.

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