Posted on 05/13/2008 12:55:39 PM PDT by Clint N. Suhks
BERLIN — It is only a breathless Hollywood script: treasure-hunter Indiana Jones races with German archaeologists to track down the fabled Ark of the Covenant, the chest that held the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were etched.
Now German researchers claim to have found the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba — and an altar that may have held the Ark.
The discovery, announced by the University of Hamburg last week, has stirred skeptical rumblings from the archaeological community.
The location of the Ark, indeed its existence, has been a source of controversy for centuries.
Regarded as the most precious treasure of ancient Judaism, it is at the heart of a debate about whether archaeology should chronicle the rise and fall of civilizations or explore the boundaries between myth and ancient history.
Professor Helmut Ziegert, of the archaeological institute at the University of Hamburg, has been supervising a dig in Aksum, northern Ethiopia, since 1999.
The palace, that is, of the Queen of Sheba, who is believed to have lived in the 10th century B.C.
After she died, her son and successor, Menelek, replaced the palace with a temple dedicated to Sirius.
The German researchers believe that the Ark was taken from Jerusalem by the queen — who had a liaison with King Solomon — and built into the altar to Sirius.
"The results we have suggest that a Cult of Sothis developed in Ethiopia with the arrival of Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant, and continued until 600 A.D.," an announcement by the University of Hamburg on behalf of the research team said.
Sothis is the ancient Greek name for the star Sirius.
... In about 586 B.C., when the Babylonians conquered the Israelites, the Ark vanished.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sounds like a dead end to me. I hear a monestary in Ethiopia claims they have it.
pinging...
“That’s a powerful force. Research should be done ...”
“Oh, it will be, Dr. Jones, I assure you. We have top men working on it right now.”
“Who?”
“Top ... men.”
Gee, and just in time for the release of a new Indiana Jones movie.
What are the chances, huh?
St. Mary of Zion
How will he know if what he finds is genuine?
If when he opens it , the skin melts off his face it was real .
I would have to think if it was really there some of the Red Heffer folks would head down and take it off their hands.
They had an altar built for satellite radio? Are you sirius?
Hope he opens it remotely.
Belloc, what a moron. Who would expect that a “radio for talking with God” would be a tool you could “point and shoot”, expecially when you were the ones exterminating God’s Chosen?
How can one tell beforehand which is which??? Lots of "myths" have turned out to be concrete archealogical facts.
I named my daughter after the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba. It is Not an uncommon name for black Americans, but not so common for women of Hispanic descent.
Makeda.
Just a side note.
“St. Mary of Zion”
In Axum, Ethiopia. We have three Ethiopian families in our parish from there and they have no doubt whatsoever that the Ark is in the monastery. BTW, they also don’t find that at all remarkable.
Cue the John Williams soundtrack.
That is a name from the Book of Mormon . Just kidding .
Your jokes about Sirius are for the dogs.
They are just matter of fact about it huh?
How cool would that be...
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