Ahasuerus

Ahasuerus (Ancient Greek: Ξέρξης Xerxes; Persian: اخشورش Aَxšoreš; Old Persian: Xšayārša; Hebrew: אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, Aẖashverosh ; ʼĂḥašwērôš; Greek: Ασουηρος in the Septuagint; or Latin: Assuerus in the Vulgate; commonly transliterated Achashverosh) is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and Apocrypha. This name (or title) is applied in the Hebrew Scriptures to three rulers. The same name is also applied uncertainly to a Babylonian official (or Median king) noted in the Book of Tobit.

Etymology

The name Ahasuerus is equivalent to the Greek name Xerxes, both deriving from the Old Persian language Xšayārša. The form Xerxes has not traditionally appeared in English Bibles, but has rather appeared as Ahasuerus. Many newer translations and paraphrases have used the name Xerxes.

The name Xerxes comes from the Greek Ξέρξης. The English name Ahasuerus is derived from a Latinized form of the Hebrew Akhashverosh (אחשורוש), which is a Hebrew rendering of the Babylonian Achshiyarshu: both this and the Greek Ξέρξης are renderings of the Old Persian Xšayāršā. Thus this literary change was created as the name moved across each of the language groups in a westerly direction from Persia until it entered English translations of the Bible.