KeithJM

I've heard mention that the King Ahasuerus mentioned throughout the book of Esther is a reference to Xerxes, which I'm guessing is the Greek name for him. Since a few of you guys seem to be rather enthusiastic scholars, and even published ones, I figured I would pose the following questions to you:

Is the King Ahasuerus mentioned in Esther a reference to Xerxes?
If so, how much of the history given in Esther has been verified or falsified by other sources?

spin

We've recently discussed the text, for the Septuagint has Artaxerxes rather than Xerxes as an apparent translation of the Hebrew Ahasuerus (which is in turn similar to the Persian form of Xerxes, which is approximately Xshayarsha. This means while the Hebrew and various early translations have Xerxes, the Greek has Artaxerxes. The weight of the translations is in favor of Xerxes.

The evidence is rather scant. For example Esther says the wife of Xerxes was Vashti, while Herodotus claims it is Amestris. Herodotus is not a particularly tenable source for Persian history, apparently making a number of errors.

Interestingly though, there seem to be a number of deity names incorporated into the text. Esther for example equates to Ishtar; Mordecai to Marduk; Haman to Hammon (Hamman); Zeresh to the Elamite goddess Kirisha; and Vashti to another Elamite goddess Mashti (compare the Hebrew word for "Greek", ie Yawan with that used in Mesopotamia, Yamani). These deity names strongly suggest that we are not dealing overtly with history, though they may cover up a hidden history which we don't have access to.


spin