Oldest copy of 10 Commandments makes rare appearance in Israel exhibition
by Tom Anstey | 06 May 2015
The Dead Sea Scrolls date back 2,000 years / Israel Antiquities
The oldest known copy of the Bible’s 10 Commandments has gone on rare display at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, two weeks before the fragile manuscript is set to be returned to a pitch-black climate-controlled storage facility.
Part of the 2,000-year old Dead Sea Scrolls – a collection of 981 ancient biblical manuscripts discovered in the 1940s and 50s – the text has never-before been displayed in Israel and, due to its delicate condition, has only ever been shown in a handful of brief exhibits abroad.
The manuscript is part of 14 ancient objects being displayed in the temporary exhibition A Brief History of Humankind. Also included are a set of 1.5 million-year-old tools for elephant hunting, the oldest known remains of a communal bonfire dating back 800,000 years, the world’s oldest sickle and skulls from the oldest remains of a family burial. A Mesopotamian tablet loaned to the museum and dating back 5,000 years, as well as a collection of 2,700-year-old Turkish coins, are also on display along with an original hand-written copy of Einstein’s theory of relativity.
“In 50 years, we are only one of only a few museums worldwide that can tell such a broad story from its own holdings,” said museum director James Snyder. “We are doing so with objects that originated here.”
The exhibition runs from 1 May 2015 until 2 January 2016, though the scroll will be returned to climate-controlled storage on 14 May 2015.
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The oldest known copy of the Bible’s 10 Commandments has gone on rare display at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, two weeks before the fragile manuscript is set to be returned to a pitch-black climate-controlled storage facility. Part of the 2,000-year old Dead Sea Scrolls – a collection of 981 ancient biblical manuscripts discovered in the 1940s and 50s – the text has never-before been displayed in Israel and, due to its
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