AHASUERUS, a royal Persian name occurring in Ezra iv. 6, Dan. ix. 1, and throughout the book of Esther, but its occur rence in Tobit xiv. 15, in some Greek mss., is due to a copyist's blunder. It is the Latinized form of the Hebrew Ahasweros (LXX. 'A ro ouripos). In Ezra iv. 6 Ahasuerus is mentioned as a king of Persia, to whom the enemies of the Jews sent representa tions opposing the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem. He here occupies a place in a chronological series of those Persian rulers who were directly concerned with events of Jewish history. (See EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.) Immediately preceding Artaxerxes I. Longimanus, he is evidently to be identified with Xerxes. This conclusion is supported by the resemblance of the Hebrew form of the name to the Babylonian Altsiyarf(u), the Egyptian Aramaic transliterations, etc. The old Persian form, found in in scriptions, is Khsayarsa.
In the book of Esther the king, at whose court the scene is laid, bears the same Hebrew name, rendered Assuerus in the Latin ver sion and Ahasuerus in the English Bible (but in LXX. "Arta xerxes" throughout). Most modern scholars are agreed that here also Xerxes is the king intended. (See ESTHER.) In Dan. ix. 1 "Ahasuerus" (Ahasweros) is the father of "Da rius the Mede," who is said to have become king over Babylonia upon the death of Belshazzar. (See also v. 3o, vi. 1, 2g.) The name seems impossible here, however, and is probably due to some acci dent in the literary transmission (Josephus, Ant. x. II, 4, has "Astyages") . It was perhaps originally a Hebrew form of Huw ahsatara (Cyaxares). No other name resembling Ahasuerus, nor any name like Darius, is to be found in the list of Median kings. We know, moreover, from the Cyrus cylinder, as well as from the Greek historians, that the immediate successor of Nabonidus and Belshazzar as ruler of Babylonia was Cyrus (he is represented in Dan. x. I, xi. 1, as successor of this Darius). Comparison with the list of Persian kings in the book of Ezra (see above) seems to show that in the Jewish tradition Darius I. Hystaspis was placed before Cyrus as "Darius the Mede." See articles "Ahasuerus" in the Encyclopaedia Biblica, Hastings' Dic tionary, the Jewish Encyclopaedia; Driver, lntrod. to the Lit. of the Old Test.; Torrey, Ezra Studies, pp. 38 seq., 135 seq., 141.
(C. C. T.)