Ivory pomegranate
Encyclopedia
The Ivory Pomegranate is a thumb-sized ivory decorative item acquired by the Israel Museum
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in Solomon's Temple. Its origin is unknown as it appeared on the antiquities market anonymously in 1979 and was sold to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for the sum of $550,000 in the late 1980s. It was considered the most important item of biblical antiquities in the Israel Museum
’s collection. However, in 2004, some experts alleged it was a part of an antiquities fraud. Now it is believed that the artifact dates back to the 14th or 13th century BCE. Investigative committee accepted that the inscription is a modern forgery, and even Professor Aaron Demski admits there is an 80 percent certainty that the inscription is a forgery.
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
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Description
The Ivory Pomegranate is a small ornamental bone object engraved with a short inscription in paleo-Hebrew. The inscription is inscribed in circular fashion along the shoulders of the pomegranate which is the shape of the fruit in blossom stage. A significant part of the body of the pomegranate is broken including two additional breaks to the long petals of the fruit. There is a vertical break on the body that cuts through the inscription, creating three fragmentary letters and nine complete letters of the inscription. Two areas of this fracture are lighter shades and considered to be new breaks on top of the ancient break.Controversy
A thumb-sized ivory pomegranate measuring 44 millimetres (1.7 in) in height bearing an ancient Hebrew inscription "Sacred donation for the priests in the House of YHVH" was once believed by some scholars to have adorned a sceptre used by the high priestKohen Gadol
The High Priest was the chief religious official of Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...
in Solomon's Temple. Its origin is unknown as it appeared on the antiquities market anonymously in 1979 and was sold to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for the sum of $550,000 in the late 1980s. It was considered the most important item of biblical antiquities in the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
’s collection. However, in 2004, some experts alleged it was a part of an antiquities fraud. Now it is believed that the artifact dates back to the 14th or 13th century BCE. Investigative committee accepted that the inscription is a modern forgery, and even Professor Aaron Demski admits there is an 80 percent certainty that the inscription is a forgery.