AHASUERUS or ASSUERUS ə hăzh’ ŏŏ ĕr’ əs, ăzh’ ŏŏ ĕr’ əs (אֲחַשְׁוֵרֹ֔ושׁ, mighty + eye or man, LXX ̓Ασσούηρος [Assuerus also in the apocryphal book of Tobit]). 1. Xerxes I (Pers. Khshayarsha, the basis for the Heb. form), the son and successor of Darius I (Hystaspes) the Great as king of Persia c. 486-465 b.c. This is the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6 and the Book of Esther. The equation of Ahasuerus (Ezra 4:6) with Xerxes presupposes that vv. 6-23 of that ch. are somewhat parenthetical, providing further information on the topic of opposition from a later period. The famous remains at Persepolis were primarily his work. Found there was a historical inscr. by Xerxes, listing the various nations subject to him, thus confirming the statement in Esther 1:1 that he ruled “from India to Ethiopia.” According to the Book of Esther, he divorced Vashti and married Esther (2:16). Later, through her intercession (suggested by her cousin, Mordecai), she was responsible for saving many Jews from a massacre that had been plotted by Haman, the king’s prime minister. When Haman’s true character and plan were exposed, Ahasuerus hanged him on the gallows that he (Haman) had prepared for Mordecai (7:10) and gave Mordecai his position (10:3). In spite of his numerous significant accomplishments, military and otherwise, Xerxes is perhaps remembered most in ancient history as the Pers. monarch who suffered defeat at the hands of the Gr. allies in 480-479 at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. His reign came to an abrupt halt in 465 when he was assassinated in his bedchamber.

2. In Daniel 9:1 the father of Darius the Mede (q.v.) whose identity, in turn, is somewhat uncertain. If Darius the Mede is to be identified with Gubaru (Gobryas), viceroy of the province of Babylon under Cyrus, then his father (the Ahasuerus mentioned here), according to some, may have been Cyaxares.

Bibliography BDB (1907); A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (1948); J. C. Whitcomb, Jr., Darius the Mede (1959).