Grail tablet

ARTIFACT
Grail tablet
Origin
Culture	Medieval European
Discovery
Location	Mountains north of Ankara
Discoverer	Donovan's engineers
Collector	Walter Donovan

The Grail tablet was one of two markers left by three brothers, knights of the First Crusade, describing the location of the Holy Grail. The tablet was made of sandstone, and according to Indiana Jones, used an early Latin text and was probably from the mid-12th century. With the top section of the tablet missing on its recovery, the exact location of the grail could not be determined.

History

In the 1930s, while searching for copper in the mountains north of Ankara, Turkey, engineers working for Walter Donovan unearthed the artifact. Donovan kept the tablet in his New York City apartment, and used it as proof that the story of the three knights of the First Crusade who discovered the Holy Grail was true.

He sent an expedition to Venice to search for the second marker which, according to the account of a Franciscan friar, was buried with one of the knights. Later, when expedition team leader Henry Jones disappeared, Donovan showed the tablet to Jones' archaeologist son Indiana to interest him in taking up the quest.

With the top section missing, part of the text of the Grail tablet read:

"...who drinks the water I shall give him, says the Lord, will have a spring inside him welling up for eternal life. Let them bring me to your holy mountain in the place where you dwell. Across the desert and through the mountains to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, to the temple where the cup that holds the blood of Jesus Christ resides forever."

―Translated by Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones and his father's companion, Doctor Elsa Schneider found that the text of the complete Grail tablet matched exactly the text on the second marker, Sir Richard's shield buried with him in the Venetian catacombs.

Behind the scenes

The Grail Tablet text is a combination of original Latin Psalms, retranslated scripture, and invented passages. The prop masters took the English psalm text and retranslated it into Latin word by word which would result in a very 'rough' effect to anyone who would try to read Latin. The tablet was made by prop manufacturer Paul Robins. There were several different versions made, with varying stone effects and edges. The tablet is made from solid plaster, with a stone effect surface.

" ... [de]us ...
... [c]hristi ...
...s et ...
...i dedisti
... [c]ruciatae
... urbem christum
... debemus + aq[u]...
...] ubique ubi ...
...] per jesum ...
...] dominum ...
... [qui]squis [ ] bibit aquam ruc...
... ego dabo ei [ ] habebit fontem ...
...[r]a se surgentem [ ] vitae aeternae fugiu...
... domine exercitum [ ] rex deorum nostru[m] ...
... [b]eati illi qui habitant [ ] in aede tua dominu...
... [l]audant te in secula [ ] saeculorum : sum ...
...[+] tu deus es meum [ ] refugium : emit ...
... [m]itte tuam lucem et [ ] veritatem + sint
...em + sint hae mihi duces : ducant me ad ...
...[a]m sacram montem in loco quem incolis : per
angustias crescentis lunae : uni viro satis latas
: ad templum solis omnibus viris satis sanctum ...
e + ubi gradalis quae continet sanguinem jesu
christi nostri permanet in aeternum
tu [deu]s omnibus viris satis sa[nctus] ..."

―Text of the Grail tablet

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Sources

• The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones

External links

• Page on the tablet prop by Indy Magnoli