Who should own the ark of the covenant?

Montage of Feck

Da da dada da da daaa.....
So I've just watched raiders of the lost ark again and the thought occurred to me what would happen if it was actually found?

"The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it is invincible."
-MARCUS BRODY

Original it was built by the Hebrews on the instructions of god and then lost. Therefore should the Israeli's get first dibs?

SEPT 23 1989

It's alien technology

Better off leaving it on a pallet in that warehouse before there's any more trouble

Zaph

You might as well ask what would happen if someone found Cinderella's glass slipper? They're both fictional items that have never existed, so there's nothing to worry about.

TheValeyard

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

It's alien technology

Better off leaving it on a pallet in that warehouse before there's any more trouble

Top Men.









TOP MEN.

TheValeyard

Zaph wrote: »

You might as well ask what would happen if someone found Cinderella's glass slipper? They're both fictional items that have never existed, so there's nothing to worry about.

Ah come on now, its AH, lets have a bit of fun.

Danzy

Zaph wrote: »

You might as well ask what would happen if someone found Cinderella's glass slipper? They're both fictional items that have never existed, so there's nothing to worry about.

Haven't you lived a sheltered life

Notmything

Ethiopia claims they have possession of it already.

Hangdogroad

Montage of Feck wrote: »

Da da dada da da daaa.....
So I've just watched raiders of the lost ark again and the thought occurred to me what would happen if it was actually found?

"The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it is invincible."
-MARCUS BRODY

Original it was built by the Hebrews on the instructions of god and then lost. Therefore should the Israeli's get first dibs?

Well they lost the feckin thing so finders keepers.

Gerry Adams

Hamsterchops

il Papa.

Wibbs

Zaph wrote: »

You might as well ask what would happen if someone found Cinderella's glass slipper? They're both fictional items that have never existed, so there's nothing to worry about.

It's mentioned a few times in biblical sources, so likely had some existence as a religious shrine/reliquary, minus the magical stuff. Such religious objects are found in every post agricultural revolution religion, glass slippers not so much. Some are desrcibed as portable when the adherents are more mobile and are often used as political and military tools as well as religious carried before the faithful in the face of enemies. EG the more recent and local 12th century St Patrick's bell shrine/reliquary



In much the same way that Noah's ark likely existed as a memory of some Mesopotamian farmer's boat where his livestock and family were carried to safety from a flood of the Tigris. The story gained in the telling unitil it encompassed the whole world. A "flood" and being saved from it, with some deity's help figures a lot in tales from that neck of the woods. Understandably because the first civilisations arose around big rivers, Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, that flooded on the regular and possibly it was a tale of warning to prepare a lifeboat just in case.

So the ark of the covenant likely existed as some sort of reliquary for relics of proto Judaism, but after such a gap of centuries is almost certainly dust with the gold bits melted down. Unless it was deliberately buried and is out there waiting like some Tutankhamun discovery.

rock22

It is housed here

It is not Noah's ark

sydthebeat

I believe the law of "finders keepers, losers weepers" would apply

Wibbs

rock22 wrote: »

It is housed here

It is not Noah's ark

One witness as from your link: In a 1992 interview, Edward Ullendorff, former Professor of Ethiopian Studies at the University of London, says that he personally examined the ark contained within the church in 1941 while a British army officer. Describing the ark, he says, "They have a wooden box, but it's empty. Middle- to late-medieval construction, when these were fabricated ad hoc." Which sounds about right.

nullzero

"It belongs in a museum".

AndyBoBandy

Reading the description of the arc on Wikipedia, basically some looney came down off a mountain and told 2 lads to make a box….

‘But it must have gold all over it, and lots of gold…… everywhere….. this is the word of the lord’

So basically it sounds like a very early version of the Nigerian General scam….

daheff

We should shoot it out into space so that it floats around the moon. Then nobody can claim ownership

rtron

I'd say it's hidden in a safe place where no one will ever find it. Like my keys.

machiavellianme

rtron wrote: »

I'd say it's hidden in a safe place where no one will ever find it. Like my keys.

You mean these keys? :P

corner of hells

nullzero wrote: »

"It belongs in a museum".

A museum of modern arc.

Anyway the people of Kells want their book back from Trinity college.

Hamsterchops

rock22 wrote: »

It is housed here

It is not Noah's ark

Love this

ulster

I remember seeing a documentary on Channel 4 years ago and in it, the archaeologist had traced the history of the ark to some ancient house, with a cavity under one of the outside walls. It was somewhere in Israel.

They scanned the cavity and could see some tablet shaped anomalies inside it. They wanted to dig it up but the authorities wouldn't let them. It was a fascinating documentary.

The Continental Op

I thought it was on Oak Island?

Maybe we'll find out in series 501

Capt'n Midnight

Zaph wrote: »

You might as well ask what would happen if someone found Cinderella's glass slipper? They're both fictional items that have never existed, so there's nothing to worry about.

Not glass.

A mistranslation of some sort of fur.


To truly understand Shakespeare you should read it in the original Klingon.

TheValeyard

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

To truly understand Shakespeare you should read it in the original Klingon.

taH pagh taHbe

Capt'n Midnight

TheValeyard wrote: »

taH pagh taHbe

lupDujHomwIj luteb gharghmey

Larbre34

Covfefe.

Capt'n Midnight

There's that temple in India with $22 billion in gold If you after that sort of stuff.

And it's not the only one.

Wibbs

They may have nicked the idea from the Egyptians. When Tutankhamun's tomb was opened one of the finds was a reliquary for Anubis, which looks fierce like what the Ark is described as. In general form anyway.





Beautifully wrought, from cedar, gold, quartz and obsidian. Even the way the tail droops down the back is elegance itself. IIRC it contained various bits and bobs to do with burial and votive offerings. This may live better in the other "didn't know that thread" but it turns out Anubis was not a jackal, but a wolf.



What is impressive about Tut's stuff, among all the obvious grandeur, is how beautifully made his various items of furniture were and how "modern" some of it looked. We can have this idea that furniture was very primitive and rough hewn back then(Hollywood doesn't help), but ancient people's were master craftsmen with wood, it's just it so rarely survives down to today. If the ark existed it was probably quite the sight to see.

Panthro

Wibbs you tryin' to give us all h'education with yer fancy postin' showin' us dem pictshures and those big oul words you gots us readin'?

Dis ere is Aftur Ours boy, now git!