Israel artifact bearing name of King Darius the Great revealed to be fake The forged "artifact" was discovered earlier this week after a foreign researcher left it behind at the excavation site ...

The inscription on the shard of pottery reads, "Year 24 of Darius," according to a government press release on Wednesday. This would have dated the inscription to 498 BC — or 2,500 years ago.

A 2,500-year-old potsherd found by visitors at Tel Lachish bears a brief inscription with the name of the Persian king Darius the Great, the father of King Ahasuerus—the biblical Achashverosh ...