Ten Commandments tablet
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The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments has been sold at an auction for more than $5 million
The tablet dates from 300 to 800 A.D. and is inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script — the only complete example of its kind from antiquity, according to Sotheby's.
It was unearthed during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913 and was not recognized as historically significant at first.
Sotheby's said the tablet was used as a paving stone at a local home until 1943 when it was sold to a scholar who grasped its significance.
Not your grandmother's Ten Commandments
The text inscribed on the slab follows the Biblical verses familiar to Christian and Jewish traditions but omits the third commandment against taking the name of the Lord in vain. It includes a new directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, a holy site specific to the Samaritans, Sotheby's said.
