Ivory fragments of the pyx are arranged in the round on a white background. (Innsbruck University)
Could proof of the giving of the Ten Commandments as written in the Bible have been found, and in Austria no less? Well, at least an ancient find refers to it. Archeologists from Innsbruck University in southern Austria seem to think so. This has to do with their discovery of a 1,500-year-old ivory box adorned with Christian motifs found under an altar in a chapel in Irschen, a municipality in the Carinthian Drava Valley in southern Austria.
In America today some US states are going so far as to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all courtrooms. And many want it to be displayed in schools too. This is because many Americans fell that the commandments are the basis for American culture.
And everyone knows about the Ten Commandments, even if they are not religious, have never studied the Bible, nor have they even seen the movie of that name which starred Charlton Heston.
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The archeologists found many boxes – called pyxes – made of ivory with inscriptions.
“We know of around 40 ivory boxes of this kind worldwide and, as far as I know, the last time one of these was found during excavations was around 100 years ago – the few pyxes that exist are either preserved in cathedral treasures or exhibited in museums,” Gerald Grabherr, the lead archaeologist, said.
“This is the typical depiction of the handing over of the laws to Moses on Mount Sinai, the beginning of the covenant between God and man from the Old Testament,” Grabherr said.
“We assume that this is a depiction of the ascension of Christ, the fulfillment of the covenant with God. The depiction of scenes from the Old Testament and their connection with scenes from the New Testament is typical of late antiquity and thus fits in with our pyx,” Grabherr added. “However, the depiction of the Ascension of Christ with a so-called biga, a two-horse chariot, is very special and previously unknown.”
OK, so this does not prove that the Ten Commandments were given by God at Mount Sinai to the Prophet Moses. Bu it is still a really cool archeological find.
