The Birth of Two Nations

What is the secret charm of a 57-year-old biblical spectacle to millions of Americans around Passover and Easter, when Cecil B. De Mille’s 'The Ten Commandments' is a perennial television favorite?

Mar 24, 2013 12:48 PM

Cecil B. De Mille’s "The Ten Commandments" was a huge success when it was first released in 1956. It made an astonishing $43 m. But it continues to be popular today - it is the only religious epic that is...

Comments

Sign in to join the conversation.

Sort comments by

1

ICYMI

ILLUSTRATION: Amos Oz

Between Zionism and Hellenism: Amos Oz on Secular Judaism

Benny Gantz outside his home in Rosh Ha'ayin during a protest by members of Israel's Druze community, January 14, 2019.

Benny Gantz, the General Coming to End the Netanyahu Era

“Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel in Rome (c. 1508-1512).

In the Bigynnyng: A Brief History of the English Bible

Benny Morris and his wife Leah at their home in Srigim.

'Israel Will Decline, and Jews Will Be a Persecuted Minority. Those Who Can Will Flee to America'

An artist’s rendering of Oumuamua. “It waited in place, like a buoy in the ocean, until the ‘ship’ of the solar system ran into it.”

If True, This Could Be One of the Greatest Discoveries in Human History

Iraqi and foreign mercenary members of a private security company, stand on the rooftop of a house in Baghdad, 18 September, 2007.

Infamous Private Paramilitary Firm Blackwater Planning Comeback. First Stop: Syria

The Arous brochure for European tourists.

The Mossad Ran a Fake Diving Resort for Tourists in Sudan. This Is the Incredible Story Behind It

Top Secret Israeli Cyberattack Firm, Revealed

Discovery of a missing piece of Antikythera Mechanism on the Aegean sea floor

Missing Piece of World's Oldest Computer Found on Aegean Seabed

Consulate staff seen behind the entrance of the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul. Oct. 17, 2018

The Grisly Hit-job on Khashoggi Is a Disaster for Israel

Donald Trump meets with Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, July 7, 2017

Ex-Mossad Chief: Russia Ran Trump for President

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule: List of soldiers under Xerxes' rule: Persian, Median, Elamite, Parthian, Arian, Bactrian, Sogdian, Choresmian, Zarangian, Arachosian, Sattagydian, Gandharan, Hindush, Sakahaumavarga, Sakatigraxauda, Babyloan, Assyrian, Arab, Egyptian, Armenia, Cappadocian, Lydian, Ionian, Saka, Skudrian, anotehr Ionian tribe, Libyan and Ethiopian

2,500-year-old Persian Military Base Found in Israel

An evangelical woman from the U.S. picking grapes in the West Bank. Free volunteers is just one of the ways Christians help settlers

Revealed: The Evangelical Money Flowing Into the West Bank

Herodion fortress

Ring of Roman Governor Who Crucified Jesus Found Near Bethlehem

A satellite image of Tehran.

Tehran Is Sinking, and It May Be Irreversible

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a meeting at the United Nations in New York on March 27, 2018.

Saudi Arabia and U.S. on Collision Course

David Myers

'BDS Is Nonviolent. It Wouldn't Have Existed Without the Occupation'

China's Vice President Wang Qishan, right, laughs as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a face as they tour the Israeli Innovation Summit in Jerusalem, Wednesday, October 24, 2018.

'Trump Will Be Furious': Admin Angry Over Growing Israel-China Ties

Yuval Noah Harari. Minimizes the danger of terrorism, calling it 'theater'

How Yuval Noah Harari Became the Pet Ideologist of the Liberal Elites

Weight that may have been used in the First Temple found in Jerusalem sifting project

Tiny Artifact With a Biblical Secret Unearthed in Jerusalem