Forgery: The crime of falsely and with fraudulent intent making or altering a writing or other instrument.
—Webster's Third
If it were only sexier, it might have rated recognition as the world's oldest profession. Ever since humankind became literate, civilization has been bedeviled by the forger's determination to deceive by mimicking the writing of others. When a pharaoh first fashioned a seal to protect the identity of his scribblings, a forger lurked with intent to melt, alter and reseal. Around the 5th century B.C. the Athenian poet Onomakritos was expelled from that ancient city for tampering with the oracles...
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