Shapira Affair: Archaeology, Forgery, and The Bible
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Prepare the ingredients: the 19th century Jerusalem, 1700 Moabite clay idols, the book of Deuteronomy, and one smart antiquities dealer. Mix it up. The result would be a fascinating forgery affair that easily could be a script for a Hollywood production. The key role played by Wilhelm Moses Shapira, an antiquities shopkeeper of dubious reputation who particularly was interested in archaeology but also, of course, in making money. European nations were thirsty for biblical findings. Shapira almost convinced Her Majesty Queen Victoria to purchase from a scroll of Deuteronomy, written by biblical Moses himself. A "modest" payment of £ 1,000,000 was prepared. Even though the conspiracy was exposed in time, today more and more scholars believe Shapira's Torah scroll could be an authentic finding. So what did really occur in the small antiquities shop in Jerusalem that shook the whole European community?
Photo: A few of the Shapira's forged Moabite figurines, hosted in the Palestine Exploration Fund, London.
Photo: A few of the Shapira's forged Moabite figurines, hosted in the Palestine Exploration Fund, London.