There have been myriad theories developed over the years that the Ark rests somewhere beyond Jerusalem. Contrary to the fictional plot of "Raiders," there's no evidence that Hitler — despite his fascination with mysticism — ever sought to find it. But in 1936, a news report did surface that a French insurance company had been approached by a mysterious group from the Middle East, which claimed that the Ark was hidden in war-torn Ethiopia and wanted to buy coverage for it in case it was damaged.


Courtyard and Entrance to Ark of the Covenant Temple in Axum, Ethiopia.

The story was never substantiated, but it helped revive interest in 13th-century folklore that the Ark had been smuggled out of Jerusalem prior to the Babylonian conquest and subsequent pillaging of the first temple, and spirited away by Solomon's son Melenik, the founder of the Ethiopian royal dynasty. Melenik was supposed to have brought the Ark with him upon returning to the Ethiopian homeland of his mother, the Queen of Sheba. Today, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians believe that the Ark resides in the Church of Saint Mary of Zion in Axum. This explanation is also endorsed by British journalist Graham Hancock in his 1992 bestseller, The Sign and the Seal. The sanctum where the Ark supposedly is kept, however, is guarded by a priest and no outsider is allowed to enter, so the claim is impossible to substantiate.

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