Josephus too relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks, and the Midrashic text, Esther Rabba also makes the identification.

Similarly, the Vulgate, the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 and the Josippon identify the King as Artaxerxes.

* A Latin version of Esther was produced by Jerome for the Vulgate.

* Additions to Esther ( Vulgate Esther 10: 4-16: 24 )

These additional books are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah ( which later became chapter 6 of Baruch in the Vulgate ), additions to Daniel ( The Prayer of Azarias, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and Bel and the Dragon ), additions to Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Odes, including the Prayer of Manasseh, the Psalms of Solomon, and Psalm 151.

In the Vulgate text, Jerome's translations from the Greek of the additions to Esther and Daniel are combined with his separate translations of these books from the Hebrew.

He married his present wife, Esther, in July 2003 after the death of his first wife, Rhoda, in December 2001.

Esther Kahn, Louis Kahn's widow, published a letter voicing similar sentiments, noting that " there is room on the site for a separate building, which could be connected to the present museum.

Ben-Hur gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and the audience is shown that Ben-Hur and Esther are in love even though her marriage to another man is imminent.

* Esther Valentine ( The Young and the Restless )-1982 – present ( played by Kate Linder )

Like Esther, the Agunah of the present era does not want to be in the marriage in which she finds herself.

* Esther Duller ( 2003 – present )

The favoured ( but specious ) present account in contemporary sources of reference is that he was possibly a son of John Abraham or Abrahams, who was possibly an operative at the Drury Lane Theatre who died in 1779 and his wife, who may have been Esther, who may have been a sister of the hazzan at the Great Synagogue of London, Myer Lyon.

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 ).

Overcome by rage, Ahasuerus leaves the room ; meanwhile Haman stays behind and begs Esther for his life, falling upon her in desperation.

* 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 story told in the book of Esther takes place during the rule of Ahasuerus, who has been identified as the fifth-century Persian king Xerxes ( 486-465 ).

Those arguing in favour of an historical reading of Esther, most commonly identify Ahasuerus with Artaxerxes II ( ruled 405 – 359 BCE ) although in the past it was often assumed that he was Xerxes I ( ruled 486 – 465 BCE ).

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

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.

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.

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 ).

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.

Wilson, who identified Ahasuerus with Xerxes I and Vashti with Amestris, suggested that both " Amestris " and " Esther " derived from Akkadian Ammi-Ishtar or Ummi-Ishtar.

* 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.

In the Book of Esther, servants of the harem of Ahasuerus such as Hegai and Shashgaz as well as other servants such as Hatach, Harbonah, Bigthan, and Teresh are referred to as sarisim.

" Esther " may have been a different Hebrew interpretation from the Proto-Semitic root "*? aθtar-' morning / evening star '", which descended with the / th / into the Ugaritic Athtiratu and Arabian Athtar.

A number of different lists exist which may include any of the following: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Miriam, Deborah, Esther, Ruth, and Tamar among others.

Williams wrote in her autobiography, " If it took nine months for a baby to be born, I figured my ' birth ' from Esther Williams the swimmer to Esther Williams the movie actress would not be much different.

Her name was Esther Peter.

" The only other Biblical book bearing the name of a woman is the Book of Esther.

One of these is the orphan Esther, whose Jewish name is Hadassah.

It has been conjectured that the name Esther is derived from a reconstructed Median word astra meaning myrtle.

The Targum connects the name with the Persian word for " star ", ستاره setareh, explaining that Esther was so named for being as beautiful as the Morning Star.

It is celebrated by reading or acting out the story of Esther, and by making disparaging noises at every mention of Haman's name.

His parents, Aimé Derrida ( 1896 – 1970 ) and Georgette Sultana Esther Safar ( 1901 – 1991 ), named him Jackie, after American actor Jackie Coogan, though he would later adopt a more " correct " version of his first name when he moved to Paris.

Susa is also mentioned in the Ketuvim of the Hebrew Bible by the name Shushan, mainly in Esther, but also once each in Nehemiah and Daniel.

Ahasuerus is given as the name of the King of Persia in the Book of Esther.

The Greek version ( Septuagint ) of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and the historian Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks.

Because the Lord promised to " blot out the name " of Amalek ( Exodus 17: 14 ), it is customary when the book of Esther is read at the Purim festival, for the audience to make noise whenever " Haman " is mentioned, so that his name is not heard.

In the King James Version of the deuterocanonical Greek additions to Esther, his name is spelled as Mardocheus.

* In the Les Luthiers ' Unen canto con humor comedy show is referred in a sketch by Daniel Rabinovich and Marcos Mundstock, but Daniel improperly pronounces her name, calling her " Esther Píscore ".

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.