1. Father of Darius, incidentally named in Daniel 9:1 . It is supposed that the word Ahasuerus is an appellative, or official title, as Pharaoh was in Egypt, and that the person referred to is the Cyaxares of history, king of Media.

2. Persian king to whom the enemies of the Jews made their accusation against those in Judah and Jerusalem. Ezra 4:6 . He is supposed to be Cambyses, son of Cyrus.

3. Persian king who "reigned from India even unto Ethiopia," and took the Jewish maiden Esther to be his queen. He is held to have been Xerxes, son of Darius Hystaspis. This was in the seventh year of his reign, the year when he returned from his unsuccessful expedition against Greece. His rash conduct in repudiating his queen because she would not violate the decorum of her sex, and his giving up the whole of the Jewish people to the pride of Haman, agrees with his folly in scourging the sea and putting the engineers to death because a storm injured the bridge they had made. See ESTHER. For the succession of the Persian kings see PERSIA.