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Ahasuerus (Hebrew: אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, Standard Aḥašveroš Tiberian ʾĂḥašwērôš, commonly transliterated Achashverosh) is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and apocrypha. The name is generally thought to be equivalent to Xerxes, both being derived from the original Persian Khashayar-sha.

Ahasuerus may refer to:

• The name of the King of Persia in the Book of Esther^[1]. He was generally identified with Xerxes I of Persia^[2], although this assumption is now rejected by most scholars^[3]. The Greek version of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks^[4]. Similarly, the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 identifies him as Artaxerxes. The Ethiopic text calls him Arťeksis, usually the Ethiopic equivalent of Artaxerxes. Bar-Hebraeus identified him as Artaxerxes II, a view strongly supported by the 20th century scholar Jacob Hoschander.
• The name of a king of Persia in the Book of Ezra^[5]. Jewish tradition regards him as the same as the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther. (The Ethiopic text calls him Arťeksis, as it does the above figure in Esther.) 19th century Bible scholars suggested that he might be Cambyses II.
• The name of an associate of Nebuchadnezzar, who together with him, destroyed Niniveh just before Tobit's death, according to some versions of the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit 14:15. A traditional Catholic view is that he is identical to the Ahasuerus of Daniel 9:1^[6] In the Codex Sinaiticus Greek (LXX) edition, the two names in this verse appear instead as one name, Ahikar (also the name of another character in the story of Tobit). Other Septuagint texts have the name Achiachar. Western scholars have proposed that Achiachar is a variant form of the name "Cyaxares I of Media", who historically did destroy Nineveh, in 612 BC.
• The name of the father of Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel^[7]. Josephus names Astyages as the father of Darius the Mede, and the description of the latter as uncle and father-in-law of Cyrus by mediaeval Jewish commentators matches that of Cyaxares II, who is said to be the son of Astyages by Xenophon. Thus this Ahasuerus is commonly identified with Astyages. He is alternatively identified, together with the Ahasuerus of the Book of Tobit, as Cyaxares I, said to be the father of Astyages. Views differ on how to reconcile the sources in this case. One view is that the description of Ahasuerus as the 'father' of Darius the Mede should be understood in the broader sense of 'grandfather' or 'ancestor'. Another view notes that on the Behistun Inscription, "Cyaxares" is a family name, and thus considers the description as literal, viewing Astyages as an intermediate ruler wrongly placed in the family line in the Greek sources.
• The real name of the Wandering Jew^[8] in some versions of the legend.

• Wandering Jew

1. ^ Esther 1
2. ^ Ahasuerus/Xerxes at BibleTexts.com
3. ^ The Religious Policy of Xerxes and the "Book of Esther", Littman, Robert J., The Jewish Quarterly Review, 65.3, Jan 1975, p.145-148. [1]
4. ^ Ahasuerus at the JewishEncyclopedia.com
5. ^ Ezra 4:5-7
6. ^ In the Ethiopic text, the verse in question (Tobit 14:15) actually names Silmanisor (Shalmaneser), in place of "Ahasuerus". In fact the only appearance of the name "Ahasuerus" (Ahishawiros) in the entire Ethiopian canon is the one at Dan. 9:1, the other places in Ezra and Esther having instead Arťeksis (Artaxerxes)
7. ^ Daniel 9:1
8. ^ The legend of the wandering Jew at Studia Hebraica

• The Wandering Jew Curious Myths of the Middle Ages by Sabine Baring-Gould, M.A.
• Achashverosh in the Biblical Encyclopedia Tanakh Profiles (Hebrew/English) See also translations of names.