And interesting find of engraved (gold) plates

[Atheist Mormon]

Being born in Byzantium (today's Istanbul) I read a turkish newspaper and found this interesting newspiece, claims that they find the seal of Solomon & some gold plates with engravings, rather looks to me like embossings...the claim is it is Torah...funny thing is I can see a leather (whatever) bound book similar to what I've seen some on LDS displays...

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/galeri-amasyada-ele-gecirildi-hz-suleymana-ait-oldugu-iddia-edilen-40598351?p=7

[Robert F. Smith]

We don't yet know the provenance of these items.  Of much greater interest are the Phoenician Text from the Etruscan Sanctuary at Pyrgi (Pyrgi Tablets), Metal Documents in Stone Boxes, an Etruscan Gold Book from 600 B.C. (a six-page 24-carat gold book bound with rings, found in a tomb in Bulgaria ca. 1943), an eight-page cuneiform golden codex found in 2005 in Teheran, Iran (from the Achaemenid period and bound with four rings),[1] and a recent find of gold plates of about the same size as the Book of Mormon plates in a royal tomb in China.[2] 

 

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[1] Philip C. Schmitz, "The Phoenician Text from the Etruscan Sanctuary at Pyrgi,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 115/4 (Oct - Dec 1995):559-575 (Pyrgi Tablets); H. Curtis Wright, "Ancient Burials of Metal Documents in Stone Boxes," in J. Lundquist & S. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley, 2 vols. (FARMS/Deseret, 1990), II:273-334; H. Curtis Wright, Modern Presentism and Ancient Metallic Epigraphy (SLC: Wings of Fire, 2006); John A. Tvedtnes, “Etruscan Gold Book from 600 B.C. Discovered,” Insights, 23/5 (2003):1,6 (6-page 24-carat gold book bound with rings, found in a tomb in Bulgaria ca. 1943); William J. Hamblin, "Sacred Writing on Metal Plates in the Ancient Mediterranean,” FARMS Review,19/1 (2007):37-54; an 8-page cuneiform golden codex found in 2005 in Teheran, Iran (from the Achaemenid period and attached with four rings), can be seen online at http://www.cais-soas.com/News/2005/October2005/11-10.htm ; cf. https://www.yahoo.com/?fr=yset_ff_syc_oracle&type=hpset .

[2] Jenny Stanton, “Gold plates and coins among valuable haul unearthed by archaeologists at 2,000-year-old royal tombs in China ,” Daily Mail Online, Dec 27, 2015, online at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3375474/Gold-plates-coins-valuable-haul-unearthed-archaeologists-2-000-year-old-royal-tombs-China.html , with Xinhua photo at http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12/27/17/2FA160FA00000578-3375474-Gold_plates_measuring_23cm_long_10cm_wide_and_0_3cm_were_found_i-a-88_1451237378084.jpg .

[Robert F. Smith]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/seal-of-solomon-may-be-found-in-amasya-120341 .  With a description in English.

[Robert F. Smith]

http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2017/10/metal-codices-seized-in-turkey.html .  Experts now suggest that these artifacts are medieval in origin.

[Rajah Manchou]

On 10/3/2017 at 11:16 PM, Robert F. Smith said:

Of much greater interest are the Phoenician Text from the Etruscan Sanctuary at Pyrgi (Pyrgi Tablets), Metal Documents in Stone Boxes, an Etruscan Gold Book from 600 B.C. (a six-page 24-carat gold book bound with rings, found in a tomb in Bulgaria ca. 1943), an eight-page cuneiform golden codex found in 2005 in Teheran, Iran (from the Achaemenid period and bound with four rings),[1] and a recent find of gold plates of about the same size as the Book of Mormon plates in a royal tomb in China.[2] 

Also worth mentioning are the numerous references to Jewish texts inscribed on brass plates found in Jewish communities in India and beyond that date back to the 6th century BC.


The Star in the East
Claudius Buchanan
Munroe, Francis & Parker, 1809 - 52 pages

 

[Robert F. Smith]

"Cochin Jews," Wikipedia, online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_Jews ,

Quote

Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews, are the oldest group of Jews in India, with possible roots claimed to date to the time of King Solomon.[3][4] The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India,[5] now part of the state of Kerala.[6][7] As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Black Jews in southern India. The Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudela, speaking of Kollam (Quilon) on the Malabar Coast, writes in his Itinerary: "...throughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the law of Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud and Halacha."[8] These people later became known as the Malabari Jews. They built synagogues in Kerala beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries.[9][10] They are known to have developed Judeo-Malayalam, a dialect of Malayalam language.

Yedael Y. Waldman, et al., “The Genetics of Bene Israel from India Reveals Both Substantial Jewish and Indian Ancestry,” PLOS, Mar 24, 2016, online at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152056 .

 

[RevTestament]

14 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

Also worth mentioning are the numerous references to Jewish texts inscribed on brass plates found in Jewish communities in India and beyond that date back to the 6th century BC.


The Star in the East
Claudius Buchanan
Munroe, Francis & Parker, 1809 - 52 pages

 

Rajah - any specific mention of the brass plates these are inscribed on? I know there are Israelites there - they are all over the Near East. Many are even nominally Muslim.

[Rajah Manchou]

17 hours ago, RevTestament said:

Rajah - any specific mention of the brass plates these are inscribed on? I know there are Israelites there - they are all over the Near East. Many are even nominally Muslim.

The accounts are scattered, but the most detailed comes from Claudius Buchanan. He describes several different plates that shifted hands between the black jew and the white jew communities of Cochin, and also passed to the Syriac Christians in the same community. The brass plates he describes were a land grant of sorts, given by the Rajah to the Jewish and Christian communities dating back to 379 AD, or roughly the same time period as Mormon and Moroni.

I've detailed on numerous occasions how the history of the Jewish and Christian diaspora communities in India, Burma and Malay (and colonies that could have ventured as far as the Americas) dating back to the Book of Mormon time period are so strikingly similar to the Book of Mormon account that they cannot be ignored, essentially confirming that the Book of Mormon is quite plausibly a historically accurate account of the Jewish diaspora to the isles of the sea, in particular, the island of Qamara.

I hope some day critics and apologists alike will find interest enough to discuss. 

Edited October 8, 2017 by Rajah Manchou