A rare inscription bearing the name of the Persian king Darius the Great has been discovered in Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed this week.
The discovery comes at a special time as Darius the Great and his son King Ahasuerus are both mentioned in the Book of Esther, read every year on the holiday of Purim, which is just around the corner. Ahasuerus is widely considered the biblical Achashverosh, the husband of Esther.
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The 2,500-year-old ostracon – a pottery sherd that was used for writing – was discovered by a hiker at the Tel Lachish National Park in central Israel by chance. It reads the Aramaic inscription "Year 24 of Darius," dating to 498 BCE.
Darius the Great reigned from 522–486 BCE – during which he vastly expanded the Persian Achaemenid Empire – and this is the first ever inscription bearing his name unearthed in Israel.
The hiker, Eylon Levy, who is the international media adviser to President Isaac Herzog, said of the accidental discovery, "When I picked up the ostracon and saw the inscription, my hands shook. I looked left and right for the cameras because I was sure someone was playing an elaborate prank on me."
He immediately reported it to the IAA, who after conducting several examinations and tests, confirmed its uniqueness.
Dr. Haggai Misgav of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem explained, "The British Archaeological Expedition that carried out excavations at Tel Lachish in the 1930s uncovered an elaborate administrative building from the Persian period, built on top of the podium of the destroyed palace-fort of the Judean kings." It had elaborate halls and courtyards with a majestic Persian-style columned portico entrance.
IAA Director Eli Escuzido said, "It's amazing that visitors to the site come across such a rare inscription 'reviving' the Persian King Darius known to us from the sources! "His son King Ahasuerus … could never have imagined that we would find evidence of his father in Israel 2,500 years after the dramatic events in his royal court!"
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