Xerxes I

Xerxes calls himself son of King Darius and lists the lands that paid him tribute, from India to Nubia (Xerxes, Daiva Inscription (XPh) §§2–3). Herodotus says that he succeeded Darius I, put down a revolt in Egypt, spent four years preparing and in the fifth led a vast army against Greece (Herodotus, Histories 7.4–7, 20). After his defeat there he returned to Susa, where Herodotus sets a story of intrigue involving his wife Amestris (Herodotus, Histories 9.108–112).

The Bible names a King Ahasuerus between Darius and Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:5–7), and the book of Esther is set at his court in Susa (Esther 1:1–3). Ahasuerus is the Hebrew form of the name that the Greeks wrote as Xerxes. The ancient Greek version of Esther calls the king Artaxerxes; see Esther and the Origin of Purim.