ASSUERO. — A Persian king discussed at length in Esth. (the Septuagint erroneously substitutes “Artaxerxes” for him). He is mentioned again in Esd. 4:6; Tob. 14:15 (Greek text, Sistine 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. In Tob. 14:15, however, there must be a confusion of names, because A. is there spoken of as the conqueror of Nineveh: the Assyrian metropolis was captured (512 B.C.) by Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and Nabopolassar, king of Babylon; therefore “Assuerus” is an incorrect 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 likewise unanimous in identifying the A. of Esth. with Xerxes I. What is recounted there about A. fits perfectly with what we know of Xerxes I from Herodotus and Ctesias. The episode in Esth. refers to the seventh year of his reign (478).