Editing Book of Esther (section)

=== Setting ===
The biblical Book of Esther is set in the Persian [[Capital city|capital]] of [[Susa]] (''Shushan'') in the third year of the reign of the [[List of monarchs of Persia#Achaemenid Empire (559–334/327 BC)|Persian king]] [[Ahasuerus#Book of Esther|Ahasuerus]]. The name ''Ahasuerus'' is equivalent to ''Xerxes''<ref name="Baumgarten">{{cite book
|last1= Baumgarten |first1= Albert I. |last2=Sperling |first2=S. David |last3= Sabar |first3=Shalom
|editor1-last= Skolnik |editor1-first=Fred |editor2-last=Berenbaum |editor2-first=Michael
|title= Encyclopaedia Judaica |edition=2|volume=18
|location= Farmington Hills, MI |publisher=Macmillan Reference|year= 2007 |page= 216}}</ref> (both deriving from the [[Old Persian|Persian]] ''Khshayārsha''),<ref name="larkin">{{cite book |first= Katrina J.A. |last=Larkin |title=Ruth and Esther (Old Testament Guides) |location= Sheffield, UK|publisher= Sheffield Academic Press |year= 1996|page= 71}}</ref> and Ahasuerus is usually identified in modern sources as [[Xerxes I]],<ref>{{cite book |first= Sidnie White |last= Crawford |chapter= Esther |editor-first=Carol A.
|editor-last=Newsom |editor-first2=Sharon H. |editor-last2=Ringe |title= Women's Bible Commentary| location= Louisville|publisher=Westminster John Knox |year=1998|page=202}}</ref><ref name="Between">{{cite book |first=Jill |last= Middlemas |editor-first=Bob E.J.H. |editor-last= Becking |editor-first2=Lester |editor-last2=Grabbe |title= Between Evidence and Ideology | location=Leiden|publisher= Brill |year=2010|page=145 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DF7RzZJXM-UC&pg=PA145|isbn= 978-9004187375 }}</ref> who ruled between 486 and 465 BCE,<ref name= "Baumgarten" /> as it is to this monarch that the events described in Esther are thought to fit the most closely.<ref name="larkin" /><ref>{{cite book |first= Carey A. |last=Moore |title= Esther (Anchor Bible) |location= Garden City, NY |publisher= Doubleday|year= 1971 |page= xxxv}}</ref>

Assuming that Ahasuerus is indeed Xerxes I, the events described in Esther began around the years 483–482 BCE, and concluded in March 473 BCE.

Classical sources such as [[Josephus]], the Jewish commentary ''[[Esther Rabbah]]'' and the [[Christian theology|Christian theologian]] [[Bar Hebraeus]],<ref name="budge">E.A.W. Budge, ''The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus'', Gorgias Press, reprint 2003</ref> as well as the [[Koine Greek|Greek]] [[Septuagint]] translation of Esther, instead identify Ahasuerus as either [[Artaxerxes I]] (reigned 465 to 424 BCE) or [[Artaxerxes II]] (reigned 404 to 358 BCE).<ref name="budge" />

On his accession, however, Artaxerxes II lost Egypt to pharaoh [[Amyrtaeus]], after which it was no longer part of the Persian empire. In his ''Historia Scholastica'' [[Petrus Comestor]] identified Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1) as [[Artaxerxes III]] (358–338 BCE) who reconquered Egypt.<ref name="Comestor">{{Cite web | url=https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Historia_Scholastica/Esther#De_Ocho_seu_Artaxerxe. | title=Historia Scholastica/Esther – Wikisource | access-date=2017-12-17 | archive-date=2022-07-05 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705054616/https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Historia_Scholastica/Esther#De_Ocho_seu_Artaxerxe. | url-status=live }}</ref>