Ahasuerus

Ahasuerus (Hebrew: אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, Standard Aḥašveroš Tiberian ʾĂḥašwērôš, Latin:Xerxes, Persian: Khashayarshah, commonly transliterated Achashverosh) is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and apocrypha. The name is generally thought to be equivalent to Xerxes, and both are derived from the original Persian Khashayar-sha.

[edit] Book of Esther

Ahasuerus is given as the name of the King of Persia in the Book of Esther^[1]. He was generally identified with Xerxes I of Persia,^[2], although this assumption is now rejected by most scholars.^[3] The Greek version of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and the historian Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks.^[4]

Similarly, the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 identifies the King as Artaxerxes. The Ethiopic text calls him Arťeksis, usually the Ethiopic equivalent of Artaxerxes. Bar-Hebraeus identified him as Artaxerxes II, a view strongly supported by the 20th century scholar Jacob Hoschander.

[edit] Book of Ezra

Ahasuerus is also given as the name of a King of Persia in the Book of Ezra.^[5] Jewish tradition regards him as the same Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther; the Ethiopic text calls him Arťeksis, as it does the above figure in Esther. 19th century Bible scholars suggested that he might be Cambyses II.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Book of Tobit

In some versions of the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, Ahasuerus is given as the name of an associate of Nebuchadnezzar, who together with him, destroyed Niniveh just before Tobit's death.^[6] A traditional Catholic view is that he is identical to the Ahasuerus of Daniel 9:1^[7] In the Codex Sinaiticus Greek (LXX) edition, the two names in this verse appear instead as one name, Ahikar (also the name of another character in the story of Tobit). Other Septuagint texts have the name Achiachar. Western scholars have proposed that Achiachar is a variant form of the name "Cyaxares I of Media", who historically did destroy Nineveh, in 612 BC.

[edit] Book of Daniel

Ahasuerus is given as the name of the father of Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel.^[8] Josephus names Astyages as the father of Darius the Mede, and the description of the latter as uncle and father-in-law of Cyrus by mediaeval Jewish commentators matches that of Cyaxares II, who is said to be the son of Astyages by Xenophon. Thus this Ahasuerus is commonly identified with Astyages. He is alternatively identified, together with the Ahasuerus of the Book of Tobit, as Cyaxares I, said to be the father of Astyages. Views differ on how to reconcile the sources in this case. One view is that the description of Ahasuerus as the "father" of Darius the Mede should be understood in the broader sense of "forebear" of "ancestor." Another view notes that on the Behistun Inscription, "Cyaxares" is a family name, and thus considers the description as literal, viewing Astyages as an intermediate ruler wrongly placed in the family line in the Greek sources.

[edit] In legend

In some versions of the legend of the Wandering Jew, his true name is held to be "Ahasuerus."^[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Esther 1
^ Ahasuerus/Xerxes at BibleTexts.com
^ The Religious Policy of Xerxes and the "Book of Esther", Littman, Robert J., The Jewish Quarterly Review, 65.3, Jan 1975, p.145-148. [1]
^ Ahasuerus at the JewishEncyclopedia.com
^ Ezra 4:5-7
^ Book of Tobit, 14:15.
^ In the Ethiopic text, the verse in question (Tobit 14:15) actually names Silmanisor (Shalmaneser), in place of "Ahasuerus". In fact the only appearance of the name "Ahasuerus" (Ahishawiros) in the entire Ethiopian canon is the one at Dan. 9:1, the other places in Ezra and Esther having instead Arťeksis (Artaxerxes)
^ Daniel 9:1
^ Andrei Oişteanu, "The legend of the wandering Jew in Europe and Romania.". Retrieved on 2008-03-12. Studia Hebraica.

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