[Breaking News]
12:45pm Just in Time for Purim
Once again, you know a Jewish holiday is approaching when the IAA announces a relevant archaeological find.
A hiker in Tel Lachish found a potsherd with the name of the Persian king Darius the Great on it. (He found in Dec 2022, but it took time to authenticate, and by then it probably just made more sense to wait until Purim before annnouncing it).
The Aramaic inscription reads โYear 24 of Darius,โ dating it to 498 BCE.
The short text thus records the name of the Persian king Darius the Great (Darius I), the father of Achashverosh.
Inscription Bearing Name of King Achashveroshโs Father Discovered in Tel Lachish
A 2,500-year-old potsherd that was found by visitors at Tel Lachish in Israelโs southeastern flatlands bears a brief inscription with the name of the Persian king Darius the Great, the father of King Achashverosh from the story of the Megillah.
Most researchers identify the biblical king of Persia Achashverosh who executes his wife, marries the orphan maiden Esther and is manipulated by both sides in the plot, as Xerxes I who reigned from 550 to 530 BCE, who burned down the city of Athens after his father had been defeated by 300 Spartans in Marathon. Xerxes was the son of Darius and Empress Atossa, daughter of King Cyrus.
In December 2022, Eylon Levy and Yakov Ashkenazi visited Tel Lachish National Park and chanced on a small potsherd with some inscribed letters, which they duly reported to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The piece of pottery was examined at the analytical lab by the IAAโs Saar Ganor and Dr. Haggai Misgav of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who realized it served as rare evidence for the Persian royal administration at Lachish at the turn of the fifth century BCE.
More: Here
The Muqata
