Ahasuerus

Ahasuerus ( Old Persian Chšayāŗšā, Hebrew אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ Ahasuerus, Aḫšeweruš Aramaic, Greek Ασουηρος, latin Ahasuerus Ahasuerus ) is a name ancient Persian origin. He is regarded mostly as a transliteration of the Persian خشیارش ( Xerxes ). The Vulgate uses the translation Assuerus. He called in the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible, as well as various in Jewish apocrypha and Christian legends people.

Bible

Book of Esther

In the book of Esther, the Persian king Ahasuerus the Jew ester takes after the repudiation of his chief wife Vashti to wife. He is caught up in the intrigue of the court servants Haman against the Jews who will be saved by esters and their guardian Mordecai (see Purim ). He is commonly equated with the Persian king Xerxes I.. The Septuagint, Josephus and the Midrash Esther Rabbah I, 3, however, identify him as Artaxerxes I. This name is also used by the translation unit.

Ezra

The Persian King Ahasuerus in the Book of Ezra is equated by the Jewish tradition with the Ahasuerus of the Book of Ester. Bible scholars of the 19th century see him as the Persian king Cambyses II ( Kambujiya, کمبوجیه ).

Book of Daniel

In the book of Daniel, Ahasuerus is the father of Darius the Mede. As the father of the ancient historian Josephus, however, called Astyages. This call medieval Jewish commentators as uncle and foster father Cyrus II This is consistent with the statement of Xenophon, Astyages was the son of Cyaxares II So this Ahasuerus is commonly equated with Astyages.

Others use the Ahasuerus of the Book of Daniel with Cyaxares I. equal, who is appointed in the Book of Tobit as the father of Astyages. The differences arise from different attempts to overcome the present source information with each other.

Apocrypha

Was in the Book of Tobit ( Tob 14:15), which belongs to the canon of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, but never a canonical part of the Tanakh and therefore also applies in Protestantism as apocryphal, a Ahasuerus comes as an ally of the Babylonierkönigs Nabu - kudurri - usur II before. The Bible historians identify him as the Median king Cyaxares I. According to a traditional Catholic view, it is identical with the Ahasuerus of the Book of Daniel.

Legendary figure of Ahasuerus

The Christian folk legend of the Wandering Jew calls this published in a 1602 version of Ahasuerus. It tells of a Jerusalem shoemaker, who is the bearing his Cross, Jesus of Nazareth denied a rest on his doorstep and thus cursed, not more likely to come to rest until the Crucified come back at the end of the day. Since then, he finds it to restless wandering through time to witness for Jesus lay against Judaism. In this form, the Ahasuerus material for many works of literature and art, but also anti-Semitic propaganda has become.

• Person in Tanach
• Xerxes I
• Esther