“In September 2004 the directors of the Israel Museum and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) appointed a special committee in order to examine the authenticity of the ivory pomegranate [inscription] from the Israel Museum.” So states the committee’s resulting report, published in 2005. If the inscription on the pomegranate (“(Belonging) to the temple of [Yahwe]h; holy to the priests”) is authentic, the pomegranate is probably the only surviving relic from Solomon’s Temple. The Israel Museum paid $550,000 for the object in 1988 after the inscription had been authenticated by Nahman Avigad, Israel’s then-leading script expert. When this joint committee […]
