The man who says he has the lost Ark

[snopes]

In the Bible, it could be seen only by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies. Anyone who lay an unauthorised finger upon it would instantly drop dead. It was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, where it vapourised its Nazi captors.

Now a British academic believes he has unravelled the mystery behind one of antiquity’s most sought-after objects — the lost Ark of King Solomon’s Temple.

http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?Paren...d=18&AId=58640

[Silas Sparkhammer]

I rather admired the theory that the Ark is in a monastery in Ethiopia. I can't remember the name of the tv show, but it was hosted by a nice chap who wore an Indiana Jones-inspired outfit, and did sensationalized treatments of real stories. He did the King Tut tomb, and several others. Fun tv show, with some actual educational value. (Rare though that may be!) Anyway, he found a small fane in Ethiopia where the local priests claim the Ark rests. Since they won't let anyone inside to see it, who knows, eh?

Silas

[Admiraldinty]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

I rather admired the theory that the Ark is in a monastery in Ethiopia. I can't remember the name of the tv show, but it was hosted by a nice chap who wore an Indiana Jones-inspired outfit, and did sensationalized treatments of real stories. He did the King Tut tomb, and several others. Fun tv show, with some actual educational value. (Rare though that may be!) Anyway, he found a small fane in Ethiopia where the local priests claim the Ark rests. Since they won't let anyone inside to see it, who knows, eh?

Silas

I remember that. That show was actually somewhat convincing (of course, I think I was 12 when it was on, so everything was convincing.)


From the article:

But Professor Parfitt believes that the biblical Ark was not quite what it appears. It was a drum-like object which doubled as a primitive cannon, releasing a kind of early, perhaps saltpetre-based explosive. “The Ark did blast things,” he said. “It was a kind of weapon, it is obvious from the text.”

There was another guy who claimed that the ark worked like a giant battery, IIRC.

[damian]

Perhaps it was an Arkebus.

[Richard W]

Why does this guy think it was a weapon, or a "drum-like object"? The descriptions in Exodus are fairly explicit about a box and what it looked like. There's not much in Deuteronomy (as referenced in the article) and the only part I could find that might suggest a weapon is in 1 Samuel, where the Israelites go to fetch it before a battle because they think it will protect them from the Philistines. But it doesn't, and gets captured and put in the Temple of Dagon, then God strikes the Philistines down with plagues of tumours and rats, and eventually the Philistines give up and send it back, full of models of tumours and rats made out of gold.

Hmm, if it caused tumours and mutant rats, perhaps it was radioactive? An early nuclear weapon!

[Arriah]

Was the original temple lead-shielded?

[Nonny Mouse]

I keep reading this as "The man who says he has lost the Ark." Rather opposite in meaning....

Nonny

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by damian

Perhaps it was an Arkebus.

That's the best (worst?) pun I've heard all week!

Silas

[Tarquin Farquart]

So he's one of the important people who were looking into it?

Perhaps it was an Arkebus

Now I get it
Silas- a quick trip to google reveals that the show was Digging for the truth, Host Josh Bernstien.
the other popular theory seems to be that the ark is somewhere in Rome, either on the Tiber Island or somewhere else in the city.(presumably hidden by the large classical jewish population in Rome.)

[Boomcoach]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

I rather admired the theory that the Ark is in a monastery in Ethiopia. I can't remember the name of the tv show, but it was hosted by a nice chap who wore an Indiana Jones-inspired outfit, and did sensationalized treatments of real stories. He did the King Tut tomb, and several others. Fun tv show, with some actual educational value. (Rare though that may be!) Anyway, he found a small fane in Ethiopia where the local priests claim the Ark rests. Since they won't let anyone inside to see it, who knows, eh?

Silas

I think that would be Graham Hancock, IIRC. He was on the old Art Bell show periodically.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by Boomcoach

I think that would be Graham Hancock, IIRC. He was on the old Art Bell show periodically.

Although dg61 identified the tv show I was thinking of, I do believe I have heard Hancock also, either on Art Bell or somewhere else.

I was just reading "Caesar Dies," a novel by Talbot Mundy, about the Emperor Commodus, and he mentioned that the Cherubim from the Temple had been removed to Antioch and were on display in public as statuary in a park. Is this verified, or just a nice bit of fiction?

(Mundy does a very good job of real research...but he then makes things up when he chooses. For instance, he identifies Commodus stand-in -- the guy who sat in the Imperial Enclosure at the Circus Maximus when Commodus was on the sands playing gladiator -- as "Pavonius Nasor," but on Google, that name only pops up references to Mundy's novel. Was Mundy being inventive that day?)

Silas

[Keeper of the Mad Bunnies]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

I rather admired the theory that the Ark is in a monastery in Ethiopia. Silas

Most recently, this idea has surfaced in Smithsonian Magazine (December 2007). The article is available online.

Keepers of the Lost Ark?

Originally Posted by Admiraldinty

There was another guy who claimed that the ark worked like a giant battery, IIRC.

Are you thinking of Eric von Daniken? Scroll down to The Ark of the Covenant. If you have an account on Amazon, you can read the description in Chariots of the Gods, pages 49-50.

[Floater]

Erich von Däniken is not regarded as being a totally reliable source of information, though.

[Ali Infree]

Now, I'm reading this thread title as The man who says he has lost the Ark.

Ali "I need my nappy, I guess" Infree