The biblical Book of Esther is set in the third year of Ahasuerus, a king of Persia.

The name Ahasuerus is equivalent to Xerxes, both deriving from the Persian Khshayārsha, thus Ahasuerus is usually identified as Xerxes I ( 486-465 BCE ), though Ahasuerus is identified as Artaxerxes in the later Greek version of Esther ( as well as by Josephus, the Jewish commentary Esther Rabbah, the Ethiopic translation and the Christian theologian Bar-Hebraeus who identified him more precisely as Artaxerxes II ).

She orders Mordechai to have all Jews fast for three days together with her, and on the third day she goes to Ahasuerus, who stretches out his sceptre to her which shows that she is not to be punished.

Ahasuerus is told that Mordechai has not received any recognition for saving the king's life.

Immediately after, Ahasuerus and Haman attend Esther's second banquet, at which she reveals that she is Jewish and that Haman is planning to exterminate her people, including her.

* The Greek Book of Esther, included in the Septuagint, is a retelling of the events of the Hebrew Book of Esther rather than a translation and records additional traditions, in particular the identification of Ahasuerus with Artaxerxes and details of various letters.

The Hebrew Ahasuerus is most likely derived from Persian Khshayarsha, the origin of the Greek Xerxes.

Bar-Hebraeus identified Ahasuerus explicitly as Artaxerxes II ; however, the names are not necessarily equivalent: Hebrew has a form of the name Artaxerxes distinct from Ahasuerus, and a direct Greek rendering of Ahasuerus is used by both Josephus and the Septuagint for occurrences of the name outside the Book of Esther.

Instead, the Hebrew name Ahasuerus accords with an inscription of the time that notes that Artaxerxes II was named also Arshu, understood as a shortening of Achshiyarshu the Babylonian rendering of the Persian Khshayarsha ( Xerxes ), through which the Hebrew Achashverosh ( Ahasuerus ) is derived.

Based on the view that the Ahasuerus of the Book of Tobit is identical with that of the Book of Esther, some have also identified him as Nebuchadnezzar's ally Cyaxares ( ruled 625 – 585 BCE ).

Ahasuerus is traditionally identified with Xerxes I during the time of the Achaemenid empire.

Jonah is mentioned twice in Chapter 14 of the apocryphal Book of Tobit, the conclusion of which finds Tobit's son, Tobias, at the extreme age of one hundred and twenty seven years, rejoicing at the news of Nineveh's destruction by Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus in apparent fulfillment of Jonah's prophecy against the Assyrian capital.

Between Cyrus and Darius, an exchange of letters with King Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes is described ( chapter 4, verse 7 ), the grandson of Darius I, in whose reign Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem.

Ahasuerus is also given as the name of a King of Persia in the Book of Ezra.

Ahasuerus is given as the name of the father of Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel.

In some versions of the apocryphal or deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, Ahasuerus is given as the name of an associate of Nebuchadnezzar, who together with him, destroyed Nineveh just before Tobit's death.

At least from the 17th century the name Ahasver has been given to the Wandering Jew, apparently adapted from Ahasuerus, the Persian king in the Book of Esther, who was not a Jew, and whose very name among medieval Jews was an exemplum of a fool.

The Book of Esther begins with a six-month ( 180 day ) drinking feast given by King Ahasuerus, for the army of Persia and Media, for the civil servants and princes in the 127 provinces of his kingdom, at the conclusion of which a seven-day drinking feast for the inhabitants of Shushan ( Susa ), rich and poor, with a separate drinking feast for the women organised by the Queen Vashti in the pavilion of the Royal courtyard.

The Septuagint version of Esther translates the name Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes, a Greek name derived from the Persian Artakhshatra.

Ahasuerus (; Old Persian: Xšayārša ; ; in the Septuagint ; or in the Vulgate ; commonly transliterated Achashverosh ) is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and Apocrypha.

The name Ahasuerus is equivalent to the Greek name Xerxes, both deriving from the Old Persian language Xšayārša.

The English name Ahasuerus is derived from a Latinized form of the Hebrew Akhashverosh ( אחשורוש ), which is a Hebrew rendering of the Babylonian Achshiyarshu: both this and the Greek Ξέρξης are renderings of the Old Persian Xšayāršā.

Esther Rabba and the Vulgate present " Ahasuerus " as a different name for the king to " Artaxerxes " rather than an equivalent in different languages, and the Septuagint distinguished between the two names using a Greek transliteration of Ahasuerus for occurrences outside the Book of Esther.

A traditional Catholic view is that he is identical to the Ahasuerus of Daniel 9: 1 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 ).

He obtains Ahasuerus ' permission to execute this plan, against payment of ten thousand talents of silver ( which the King declines to accept and rather allows him to execute his plan on principle ), and he casts lots to choose the date on which to do this — the thirteenth of the month of Adar.

Just then, Haman appears, to ask the King to hang Mordechai, but before he can make this request, King Ahasuerus asks Haman what should be done for the man that the king wishes to honor.

Jewish tradition relates that Esther was the mother of a King Darius and so some try to identify Ahasuerus with Artaxerxes I and Esther with Kosmartydene.

In 1992 a 30-minute, fully animated video, twelfth in Hanna-Barbera's The Greatest Adventure series, titled Queen Esther features the voices of Helen Slater as Queen Esther, Dean Jones as King Ahasuerus, Werner Klemperer as Haman, and Ron Rifkin as Mordecai.

* A 2006 movie about Esther and Ahasuerus, entitled One Night with the King, stars Tiffany Dupont and Luke Goss.

Other works dealing with the Persian Empire or the Biblical story of Esther have also referenced Xerxes, such as the video game Assassin's Creed II and the film One Night with the King, in which Ahasuerus ( Xerxes ) was portrayed by British actor Luke Goss.

* One of King Ahasuerus ' seven advisers who were princes of Persia and Media ().

When " young virgins " were sought, she was brought into the presence of King Ahasuerus and was made queen in the place of the exiled queen Vashti.

* Chronicles of King Ahasuerus

Queen Esther declared a three-day fast for all the Jews prior to risking her life in visiting King Ahasuerus uninvited ( Esther ).

According to the Book of Esther, in the Hebrew Bible, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus ( presumed to be Xerxes I of Persia ), planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his adopted daughter Queen Esther.

Just then, Haman appears, and King Ahasuerus asks him what should be done for the man that the King wishes to honor.

He refers to a Jewish woman who had married the Persian King Bahman ( Artaxerxes II ), and delivered her people, thus corroborating this identification of Ahasuerus.

An illustration from the 12th century Hortus deliciarum from Alsace may be the earliest depiction of a pretzel, shown at a banquet with Esther | Queen Esther and Ahasuerus | King Ahasuerus

They include a scene of King Ahasuerus rejecting Vashti in favor of Esther, the brothers selling Joseph into slavery in Egypt, and Moses raising up the nehushtan ( bronze serpent ) in the wilderness.

According to local Jewish traditions, the City of Hamedan is mentioned in the Bible, as the capital of Ancient Persia in the days of King Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther.

Abagtha ( אבגתא ) was a court official ( likely a eunuch ) of King Ahasuerus.

As Artaxerxes is believed to be the inspiration for King Ahasuerus in the story of Purim, Artabanus may have been the inspiration for Haman in the same story.