Xanthicds

See Time, p. 765. XERXES (ii?pfi!s), king of Persia (B.C. 485-465), i.si the Ahasuerus of Ezr 4" and of the Book of E.-^tlier.* In the first of these instances the position of the name, between Darius (Hystaspis) and Arta- xerxes{Longimanus), scarcely permits of any other conclusion. The view (Ewald, et al.) that Cambyses the son of Cyrus is referred to, is now generally abandoned.

There has never been any doubt as to tlie intention of the author of the Book of Esther to identify his Ahasuerus with Xerxes, although a difierence of opinion has prevailed regarding the historicity of tlie role he assigns to this king. It may suffice to say here that, while the extravagance, cruelty, and caprice attributed to Ahasuerus, and * It seems hopeless to attempt to fix the identity of the Ahasuerus of Dn 9' and To U". In ftuy case he cannot be the hutoricat Xerxes.

the vindictiveness of Esther, correspond closely enough to what we are told of Xerxes and hia queen Amestris (cf. e.g. Herod, vii. 35, 114, 11811'., 238 ; viii. 24 if. ; ix. 110 ft'.), there are powerful con- siderations which forbid our accepting the book as a record of actual occurrences. See, further, Esther, vol. i. pp. 773", 775. The name Ahasuerus appears in the MT as I^niv'nx or eillynt* [in Est 101 E^tfiibh, prob. by cop.yist's error, has ti'lcnNJ.

The LXX forms are : Ezr 4fl B 'A<rUrf>«C [or peril.' AvUripoi], A 'A<r<r«w- Kfioi, Luc. 'Afffvrr-i^ ; Dn 91 Theod. 'Ac-e-Jrpot [Al B] or 'Air<rour,pot [A »" Ql, LX.X Si;{r(, Luc. 'Arm^ptt ; To 1410 B 'A.ri^fx, A 'Artlxpott N^-' ' Airffi/v)poe ; in Esther BA, confusing with Nnc'cnrnK (Artax^rxes), reproduce uniformly by 'Afniclipirt or some corruption of that name, although Luc. has 'Acsi/v^pof except in 920 'A/>Ta{if jrf. Bevan (Daniel, p.

149) holds that the form of the name originally in use among the Jews was no doubt K'TcnK {Ahashj/arsh or Abshayarsh), answering to the Pers. Ehshayarahd (Aram riK-pn, CIS II. L 122). J. A. Selbib.