XERXES zûrk’ sez (Old Pers. xšayāršan, Elamite ikšeirišša, Akkad. ḥiši’arša, following this pronunciation the OT Heb. reads אֲחַשְׁוֵרֹ֑ושׁ, and in the Aram. papyri, חשׁיארשׁ; while the Gr. writers, chiefly Herodotus, transliterate the name as, Ξέρξης, the KJV and all other Eng. VSS read Ahasuerus [Esth 1:1ff.]). He succeeded to the throne of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia (q.v.) upon the death of his father, Darius the Great (522-486 b.c.). His mother was Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus the Great, the builder of the Pers. empire. He was designated as his father’s successor by Darius himself, whose reign had ended as rebellions were breaking out throughout his vast empire. His son was a man of weak abilities given to unfortunate reliance upon the advice and opinions of courtiers and harem eunuchs. After suppressing the revolt in Egypt with great violence and destruction he levied a navy from Egypt and his Gr. allies, and began to formulate plans to invade Attica. His Phoen. subjects ferried his army across the Hellespont on a double bridge of boats and from there the Pers. forces made up of contingents from nearly fifty nation’s, marched S and captured Athens. However, the tide of war turned swiftly when Xerxes’ great fleet was annihilated at the subsequent naval battle of Salamis 480 b.c., and Xerxes again exhibited his insecurity of character by putting his Phoen. admiral to death and causing the desertion of his naval forces. His commander in Greece, Mardonius, negotiated with Athens to no avail. The war was resumed and Persia was finally defeated at the battle of Plataea 479/8 b.c. The Athenians and many newly won deserters from Persia followed up their success by invading the area of the Eurymedon River thus ending Persia’s hopes for European conquest. Xerxes retired to his palaces at Persepolis (q.v.) and Susa (q.v.) which he expanded and decorated in colossal and ornate style. Of great interest is his religious enthusiasm, for unlike his predecessors he did not accept the validity of the archaic religious cults of Egypt and Babylon but destroyed them both. His inscrs. from Persepolis proclaim his destruction of the temples of the false gods in his dominions and his faithfulness to Ahuramăzda. It may well be that the religious inflexibility of his Jewish subjects and his wife, Esther, confirmed his stalwart adherence to Mazdaism. No mention of Esther or her people is made outside of the Biblical book, but the exclusive and propagandistic character of ancient annals and records is well established and so one would be indeed surprised if the inner workings of the harem were recorded upon royal documents of the period. The essential personality of Xerxes as presented by Herodotus and his own inscrs. is very similar to that demonstrated in the Book of Esther. The career of Xerxes was the preliminary to the collapse of the Achaemenid house under Alexander’s conquest.

Bibliography See under Persia.