Ahasuerus

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Ahasuerus (Hebrew אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, Standard Hebrew Aḥašveroš, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĂḫašwērôš, commonly transliterated Achashverosh) is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible and related legends and apocrypha. The name is generally thought to be equivalent to Xerxes, both being derived from the original Persian Khshayarsha.

• The name of the king of Persia in the Book of Esther. He is generally identified with Xerxes I of Persia although several alternative identifications have been proposed. The Greek version of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes and Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks. Similarly the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 identifies him as Artaxerxes.
• The name of a king of Persia in the Book of Ezra. Jewish tradition regards him as the same as the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther. 19th century Bible scholars suggested that he might be Cambyses II.
• The name of an ally of Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Tobit. He is identified with Cyaxares I of Media. A traditional Catholic view is that he is identical to the Ahasuerus of the Book of Daniel.
• The name of the father of Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel. 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 Cyaxares II 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 grandfather or 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.
• The real name of the Wandering Jew in some versions of the legend.

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