Ancient goblet found in Palestine etched with oldest depiction of Creation

A 4,300-year-old silver goblet unearthed in Palestine is engraved the earliest known depiction of the universe’s creation, a new study revealed.

The three-inch-tall silver cup - known as the Ain Samiya goblet - is etched with mythological carvings of snakes, chimeras, gods, celestial symbols and a mysterious “boat of light,” imagery researches believe shows the universe shifting from pre-creation chaos to newly forged cosmic order.

The study, published in the Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, argues the goblet holds the oldest known visual record of the cosmos being born - predating the stone-inscribed Babylonian “Enuma Elish” by more than 1,000 years.

The Ain Samiya goblet is believed to be the oldest visual record of the cosmos being born.

The three-inch-tall silver cup is etched with mythological carvings of snakes, chimeras, gods, celestial symbols and a mysterious “boat of light.”

One side of the goblet - dug up in a tomb within the Judean Mountains in 1970 - shows a human torso clutching palm fronds fused to two bull bodies, floating above a tiny sun and staring down a menacing snake, according to the study.

The other side depicts two figures carrying a crescent-shaped object - believed to represent the sun and moon - sailing across the sky, with the same serpent lying defeated beneath them.