(Jewish Daily Bulletin)
A golden calf, described as antedating by 500 years the golden calf of Moses’s day, was shown an invited group by Prof. James H. Breasted, Egyptologist of the University of Chicago.
After being exhibited the golden relic was returned to a secret vault, from which it probably will not be taken again, at least for public exhibition.
The calf is part of a royal tomb treasure found in Palestine. The display included long strips of golden overlay adorned with scale patterns and believed to have been part of a golden serpent, two tiny golden vessels, a golden girdle such as an ancient king might have worn, golden pins for a queen and a pitcher of blue stone adorned with bands of gold.
From the point of view of the goldsmith’s art the most important piece exhibited was an open work breast ornament, once encrusted with semiprecious stones, now mostly fallen out. The design includes the Egyptian Goddess Hathor, the source, Prof. Breasted explained, of the Hebrew “Golden Calf.”
Also there was what remains of the golden calf itself, a statuette 15 to 18 inches high and overlaid with sheet gold. The overlay is crushed and crumbled, but the four golden hoofs are perfectly preserved in the overlay work.
“In the records as far back as 1600 B.C.,” said Prof. Breasted, “the kings of Egypt give lists of the golden treasure which they carried away from the palaces of the kings of Palestine, before the Hebrews settled there. The tombs of these pre-Hebrew kings have never heretofore been discovered. Somewhere on the hillsides of the Holy Land these royal burial places remain to be found. From the first such tomb came the royal treasure shown here.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
