The Ark of the Covenant
The gilded chest built at Sinai to hold the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, carried before the Israelites in the wilderness and kept in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple, where it stood as the throne of God's presence. According to the biblical books it was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, topped by a mercy seat between two cherubim, and it was borne on poles by the Levites; its presence was held to go before Israel in battle, as at the fall of Jericho. Legend holds that it was hidden away before the Babylonian destruction of the Temple, while Ethiopian tradition claims