[travel] The freakin' Rod of Moses

[mattbell]

[travel] THE ROD OF MOSES The Grand Palace in Istanbul has an artifact called the “Rod of Moses”. It's very well protected and has a dedicated security guard. There's no blurb next to it – it just says “13th century BC.” Really? Did they take it out to the Red Sea and try it out, checking that it did in fact part it? Is there a “Serpent” button on the back? Seriously? This, from an otherwise credible museum. A bit further down, they had a bunch of objects that they claimed were Mohammed's personal effects. They had various ornate boxes and other such things. These were also very well protected and, unlike the Rod of Moses, actually plausible. While most major world religions were oppressed for hundreds of years before becoming dominant, Islam had to endure just a few years. The powers-that-be kicked Mohammed out of Mecca when he was becoming a bit too much trouble to the order of things, and he came back 12 years later with an army of 10,000 soldiers. Within 100 years, Islam had spread over most of the middle east. So it's entirely reasonable to assume that some very important people looked after his belongings after his death.