Every year when Purim is around the comer, we typically review the book of Esther, looking for new insights into the story. But rarely do we explore the Greek and Persian sources regarding the ancient Persian kings. The purpose of this article is to explore these secular sources to see if we can identify which king in these sources is Ahashverosh, and to see if these sources can shed some light on the story.
At the outset, it is important to realize that one main clue in helping us identify Ahashverosh is found in the Tanach itself. Ahashverosh is mentioned at Ezra 4:6, and there Ahashverosh is mentioned in the context of other Persian kings. The simplest understanding of Ezra 4:6 and its immediately surrounding verses is that Ahashverosh is the Persian king who reigned between Daryavesh and Artanshasta. (But note that the 4th chapter of the book of Ezra is a very difficult one and subject to other interpretations.)
But what about the secular sources? Is there any Persian king known as Ahashverosh or something close to that in these sources?
Until about 150 years ago, a search in these secular sources for a Persian king named Ahashverosh or something close to that would have been an unsuccessful one. For until the I9th century our knowledge of the names and reigns of the ancient Persian kings came entirely from the writings of Greek historians. And none of the names of the Persian kings as they had come down to us in these Greek historians were close to Ahashverosh. The Greek historians described the following Persian kings from this particular period, reigning in the following order: Cyrus (=Koresh), Cambyses (not mentioned in Tanach), Darius (=Daryavesh), Xerxes, and Artaxerxes.
We were thus left to speculate as to Ahashverosh's identity. Was he to be equated with Artaxerxes? This was the position taken by the Septuagint. Was he to be equated with Cambyses? Or was he, as the 4th chapter of the book of Ezra implied, the king between Darius (Daryavesh) and Artaxerxes (Artanshasta). But if so, why did the Greeks refer to him as Xerxes, a name at first glance seeming to have no relation to the name Ahashverosh?
It was only in the 19th century, as a result of the deciphering of cuneiform inscriptions from the ancient Persian palaces, that we were able to answer these questions. It was discovered that the name of the king that the Greeks had been referring to as "Xerxes" was in fact: "Khshayarsha" (prounounced as if spelled: Chashirash. This name is very close to the Hebrew "Ahashverosh." Indeed, in their consonantal structure, the two names are identical. Both center on the consonantal sounds "ch", "sh", "r", and "sh." Just that the Hebrew added an initial "aleph' (a frequent occurrence when foreign words with two initial consonants are transliterated into Hebrew), and Hebrew also added two "vavs." Interestingly, several times in the Megillah, Ahashverosh is spelled with only one vav, and one time (10:1), it is spelled with no vavs.
How did Khshayarsha come to be referred to by the Greeks as Xerxes? Simple. Due to the Greeks' lack of concern for the precise transliteration of names of people whom they viewed as barbarians (and also due perhaps to the difficult double consonant sound at the beginning of the name), the initial "ch" sound was dropped. Since the Greek language did not have a letter to represent the "sh" sound, the Greeks were faced with an impossible task in attempting to accurately transliterate the remaining "sh" "r" and "sh" consonants. The best they could do was represent them with the Greek sounds "ks" "r" and "ks." Thus, the Persian name became "kserks" in Greek. For reasons related to Greek grammar (beyond the scope of this article), an "es" had to be added to the end of the name. The result was "Kserkses," which we write in English today as "Xerxes."
Identifying Khshayarsha/Xerxes with Ahashverosh thus makes much sense on linguistic grounds. And it is consistent with Ezra 4:5-7 which places Ahashverosh as the king between Daryavesh (Darius) and Artahshasta (Artaxerxes).
It is also worth mentioning that we have inscriptions from king Khshayarsha which list the countries over which he ruled. Among the countries listed are "Hidush" and "Kushiya," most likely the Hodu and Kush of the Megillah.
Now that we have identified Ahashverosh in secular sources, we can use these sources to provide some biographical information. Xerxes reigned from 486-465 BCE, a time when the Temple was already rebuilt, having been rebuilt in the reign of his father Darius in 516 BCE. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century B.C.E), Xerxes was the son of Darius by Atossa, daughter of Cyrus. Xerxes was not Darius' oldest son but he was the first son born to Darius after Darius became king. This factor, combined with the fact that Xerxes was a grandson of Cyrus, merited Xerxes' being entitled to the kingship after Darius, instead of Darius' eldest son Artabazanes (who was from a different wife). At Xerxes' accession in 486 BCE, he could not have been more than 36 years old (since he was born after Darius' accession in 522 BCE).
We can also use these sources to shed some light on the Megillah. Close reading of the Megillah reveals that the party in which Vashti was deposed took place in the third year of Ahashverosh's reign (1:3), and that Esther was not chosen until the 7th year of his reign (2:16). Why did it take Ahashverosh so long to chose a replacement queen? The answer may lie in what we discover from the secular sources: that Xerxes was preoccupied with foreign policy and out of the country for a large portion of this period. Early in his reign, Xerxes began massive preparations for a fill scale invasion of Greece. (Herodotus tells us that the Jews of Palestine, together with the Phoenicians, contributed 300 vessels to Xerxes' fleet.) And
Xerxes went on the invasion himself which took him out of Persia during the 5th and 6th years of his reign.
From the secular sources and a solar eclipse that took place in the battles, it can be calculated that Xerxes did not return home to Susa until the fall of 479 B.C.E. We can also calculate that Tevet of Ahashverosh's 7th year, when Esther was taken, was Dec. 479/Jan. 478 B.C.E. Accordingly, Esther was taken to Ahashverosh only a few months after his return. (Xerxes' invasion of Greece was repelled and it has been suggested that the process of choosing a new queen and taking Esther may have been one way that Xerxes helped comfort himself in his time of defeat.)
Secular sources also reveals some evidence for Mordechai. The Greek historian Ctesias (c. 430 to 380 BCE) mentions an advisor to Xerxes named "Matacas." There is also an inscription dating from the time of Darius or Xerxes, which refers to a governmental accountant named "Marduka." But "Marduka" may have been a common name in this period.
Do we have any evidence in secular sources for the main plot of the Purim story, Xerxes' threat to exterminate the Jews? We do not, but this is not surprising since no works from any Persian historians from this period have survived. Our narrative sources from this period come from Greek writers, and the Greek writers concerned themselves mainly with the Persians' foreign affairs.
Most interesting is what happens when we analyze the secular sources regarding Xerxes' wife. According to both Herodotus and Ctesias, Xerxes' wife was named Amestris. According to Herodotus, Amestris was the daughter of a Persian military commander named Otanes. According to Ctesias, she was the daughter of Onophas. According to the Megillah (2:15), Esther is the daughter of a Jew named Avihail. Also, both Herodotus and Ctesias tell stories depicting Amestris' cruelty.
To reconcile this with the Megillah, some postulate that Amestris is Vashti. One problem with this approach is that in the references to Amestris in the Greek historians, there is nothing to indicate any loss of status by her. Others postulate (based on verses such as 2:19 and 4:11) that Esther was never the official Persian queen, but was one of Xerxes' many wives of a lower level. See, e.g., Da'at Mikra edition of Hamesh Megillot, intro. to Esther, p.6. The problem with this approach is that the clear impression one receives from the book of Esther is that Esther was the official Persian queen from the time she was chosen in the 7th year of Ahashverosh's reign through the balance of the years described in the book. See, e.g., verse 2:17.
The approach that seems to have the least difficulties is to postulate that Amestris is identical with Esther and that the Greek historians simply erred regarding her ancestry. (And any maligning story they tell about the queen of their enemies should also be viewed with suspicion.)
Close examination of the name "Amestris" supports its identification with Esther. The "is" ending at the end of the name is just a suffix added due to certain principles of Greek grammar (just as an "es" was added at the end of Xerxes' name). When comparing the remaining consonants, we see that the name of the wife of Ahashverosh/Xerxes as recorded in the Greek historians is based around the consonants M S T R, and the name as recorded in the Bible is based around the consonants S T R. Out of the numerous possible consonants in these languages, three consonants are the same and in the same order! Probability suggests that this is not just coincidence and that the two represent the same person. (One source in Orthodoxy that has suggested the identification of Esther with Amestris is Da'at Mikra, Trei Asar, vol.2, appendix, p.3.)
It must be pointed out that the identification of Ahashverosh with Xerxes does not fit with the view of the Talmud. According to the Talmud (Megillah 11b, based on Seder Olam Rabbah), Ahashverosh reigned between Koresh and Daryavesh. (Secular history places a different king in this period: Cambyses. Cambyses' Persian name was discovered to be "Kabujiya" in the Persian cuneiform sources.) The Talmud bases its view on an understanding of the 4th chapter of the book of Ezra which is different from the way it is understood by most scholars today.
Among the authorities in Orthodoxy that accept the identification of Ahashverosh with Xerxes include: the Da'at Mikra edition of Tanach (published by Mossad ha-Rav Kook); the Soncino Bible commentaries; R. Isaac Halevy; R. Adin Steinsaltz; and R. Avigdor Miller.
The Megillah at 10:2 exhorts us to search outside the Biblical sources for additional materials regarding Ahashverosh. I hope that this search has proven an interesting one!