Amazon.com: The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses: Stuart Munro-Hay: Books

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This sometimes fascinating, sometimes pedantic historical detective story, a follow-up to The Ark of the Covenant, grows out of Ethiopian traditions holding that the ark, the wooden box containing the tablets of Moses, was brought there in Solomonic times as a result of Solomon's marriage to the queen of Sheba. By the 16th century, the Church of Mary of Zion in Askum claimed to possess the ark. Acting as something of a modern-day Indiana Jones, Munro-Hay, who died as the book was going to press, delves into the documents that keep these legends alive. He discovers that the Kebra Nagast, the main book containing legends of the ark, provides more details about an altar stone than about a wooden box. The stone, likely a replica of the original tablets of Moses, served Ethiopian Christians as a connection to the ark. Munro-Hay concludes that the church at Askum never possessed the ark but rather the altar stone. Munro-Hay offers a charming glimpse into the Ethiopian side of this story, although his conclusions about the ark's legendary status echo those of generations of biblical scholars who have searched for the biblical relic. (May)
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Product Description

In the old crenellated church of Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia, an object is kept that emperors, patriarchs, and priests have assured the world is the most important religious relic of all time: the Ark of the Covenant. Are the legends true? Or is this story a monumental deception? In a triumph of historical detective work the acclaimed Ethiopia expert Stuart Munro-Hay traces the extraordinary legend of Ethiopia's Ark through ancient texts, local stories, from the Bible and from the writings of sixteenth and seventeenth century Jesuits up to modern times, before he reaches his conclusion. The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant settles the mystery of the Ark in Aksum once and for all.

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Nearly two thousand years ago, a great African empire flourished in the highlands and torrid Red Sea coastlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
altar tablet, altar stone

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Abu Salih, Maryam Seyon, Zara Yaqob, Mary of Zion, Ark of Zion, Amda Seyon, Conti Rossini, Nine Saints, Sarsa Dengel, Marvam Seyon, Red Sea, Saga Za-Ab, Zara Yagob, Ebna Lahakim, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Yekuno Amlak, Aksum Seyon, King David, Old Testament, Ya'ibika Egzi, Dabra Makeda, Emperor Fasiladas, Ethiopian Ark, Francisco Alvares, Graham Hancock

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