Oldest Stone Tablet of the Ten Commandments Up for Auction

— -- What is believed to be the earliest-known stone inscription of the Ten Commandments is going up for auction today in California.

"There is nothing more fundamental to our shared heritage than the 10 Commandments," David Michaels, the Director of Antiquities for Heritage Auctions, said in a statement. Heritage Auctions is conducting the auction in Beverly Hills.

The 2 feet-by-2 feet, 200 pound, white marble tablet dates back to the 4th century A.D., according to Heritage Auctions.

The Ten Commandments are written on the tablet in an early Hebrew script called Samaritan, according to Michaels. The marble slab likely adorned the entrance of a synagogue that was either destroyed by the Romans between A.D. 400 and 600 or by the crusaders in the 11th century.

The opening bid for the stone tablet is a $250,000 -- but the buyer must also agree to place the tablet on public exhibition because of an export agreement from when the tablet, which is designated as a "national treasure" of Israel, was brought to the United States.