No one who has watched The Ten Commandments by Cecil DeMille would have come away without being imprinted in the mind with the image of Moses coming down the mountain lugging one tablet in each arm each the size of an opened laptop and weighing 15 kg apiece.
How large were the original tablets of the Ten Commandments? The answer will, of course, depend on a number of factors, such as the the particular script that was used, the size of the inscription, and whether the tablets were inscibed on both sides or on only one. In all probability, however, the tablets were a great deal smaller than Cecil deMille's or what is usually depicted in popular literature.
We have reprinted the Hebrew text of the first four commandments from Exo, using a modern script of a size that may be reproduced easily by inscibing on a piece of rock. The image gives you an idea of easily the entire Ten Commandments could have been inscribed on two tablets each 12x18 cm (5x7 in). In real life it could have been much smaller; small enough, in fact, not to seriously burden its carrier.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2012