ASSUERO - La regina Vasshi ripudiata da A. - School of Botticelli. Florence, Uffizi Gallery.
ASSUERUS. - Persian king who is discussed extensively in Esth. (the Septuagint erroneously replaces him with "Artaxerxes"). He also appears in Esd. 4:6; Tob. 14:15 (Greek text, Sixtine edition); Dan. 9:1; it is debated whether he is the same person.
The Greek name Ἀσβοῦρος or Ἀσβόρος, a transcription of the Hebrew Ἀθαξικῶ, corresponds to the Persian Ḥajarīa and the Susian Iksirsa, that is, Xerxes. However, in Tob. 14:15 there must be an exchange of names, because there A. is spoken of as the conqueror of Nineveh: the Assyrian metropolis was captured (512 B.C.) by Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and by Nabopolassar, king of Babylon; therefore "Assuero" is a bad transcription of Cyaxares (Persian Uvañāstra). The A. mentioned in Dan. 9:1, as the father of Darius the Mede, whose identification is problematic, is perhaps an arbitrary gloss. In Esd. 4:6, A. king of Persia to whom the enemies of the Jews who had returned from exile appealed in order to hinder the rebuilding of the Temple, is named between Darius and Artaxerxes: he is therefore Xerxes I, who reigned from 485 B.C.
Exegetes are also in agreement in identifying the A. of Esth. with Xerxes I. What is recounted there about A. fits very well with what we know of Xerxes I from Herodotus and from Ctesias. The episode of Esth. refers to the 7th year of his reign (478).
Bibliography3 worksH. Lesêtre, in DB, I, coll. 1139-43; J. Keulers, Het boek Esther, Bruges 1927; U. Bertini, in Enc. Ital., V, p. 67.
BIBL.: H. Lesêtre, in DB, I, coll. 1139-43; J. Keulers, Het boek Esther, Bruges 1927; U. Bertini, in Enc. Ital., V, p. 67.
Cavalla, Vincenzo. “Assuero.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 198. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/assuero.
MLA
Cavalla, Vincenzo. “Assuero.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 198. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/assuero.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_assuero,
author = {Cavalla, Vincenzo},
title = {Assuero},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {198},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/assuero}
}
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