Artaxerxes I
Artaxerxes I 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂 | |
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Naqsh-e Rustam, Persepolis | |
Spouse | Damaspia Alogyne of Babylon Cosmartidene of Babylon Andia of Babylon |
Issue | |
Dynasty | Achaemenid |
Father | Xerxes I |
Mother | Amestris |
Religion | Zoroastrianism |
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Artaxerxes[1] in hieroglyphs | |||||||||||||||
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Late Period (664–332 BC) | |||||||||||||||
Artaxerxes I (
In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" (
Succession to the throne
Artaxerxes was probably born in the reign of his grandfather
Egyptian revolt
Artaxerxes had to face a revolt in Egypt in 460–454 BC led by Inaros II, who was the son of a Libyan prince named Psamtik, presumably descended from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. In 460 BC, Inaros II revolted against the Persians with the help of his Athenian allies, and defeated the Persian army commanded by satrap Akheimenes. The Persians retreated to Memphis, and the Athenians were finally defeated in 454 BC, by the Persian army led by Megabyzus, after a two-year siege. Inaros was captured and carried away to Susa.
Relations with Greece
After the
Artaxerxes I offered
Portrayal in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah
A King Artaxerxes (Hebrew: אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתְּא, אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא, pronounced [artaχʃast(ǝ)], or אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתָּא pronounced [artaχʃasta]) is described in the Bible (Ezra 7) as having commissioned Ezra, a kohen and scribe, by means of a letter of decree to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation.
The rebuilding of the Jewish community in Jerusalem had begun under Cyrus the Great, who had permitted Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild Solomon's Temple. Consequently, a number of Jews returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the foundation of this "Second Temple" was laid in 536 BC, in the second year of their return (Ezra 3:8). After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of Darius, 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).
In Artaxerxes' twentieth year, Nehemiah, the king's cup-bearer, apparently was also a friend of the king as in that year Artaxerxes inquired after Nehemiah's sadness. Nehemiah related to him the plight of the Jewish people and that the city of Jerusalem was undefended. The king sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city walls.[22]
Interpretations of actions
Roger Williams, a 17th-century Christian minister and founder of Rhode Island, interpreted several passages in the Old and New Testament to support limiting government interference in religious matters. Williams published The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, arguing for a separation of church and state based on biblical reasoning. Williams believed that Israel was a unique covenant kingdom and not an appropriate model for New Testament Christians who believed that the Old Testament covenant had been fulfilled. Therefore, the more informative Old Testament examples of civil government were "good" non-covenant kings such as Artaxerxes, who tolerated the Jews and did not insist that they follow his state religion.[23]
Medical analysis
According to a paper published in 2011,[24] the discrepancy in Artaxerxes’ limb lengths may have arisen as a result of the inherited disease neurofibromatosis.
Children
By queen Damaspia
By Cosmartidene of Babylon
- Darius II
- Arsites
- Bogapaeus
- Darius II Ochus
By another(?) unknown wife
- An unnamed daughter, wife of Hieramenes, mother of Autoboesaces and Mitraeus[27]
By various wives
- Eleven other children
See also
References
- ^ Henri Gauthier, Le Livre des rois d'Égypte, IV, Cairo 1916 (=MIFAO 20), p. 152.
- ISBN 964-358-015-6.
- ^ Artaxerxes at Encyclopædia Iranica
- ^ The Greek form of the name is influenced by Xerxes, Artaxerxes at Encyclopædia Iranica
- ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0.
- ^ Matthew W. Stolper. The Death of Artaxerxes I in Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran N.F. 16 (1983). Dietrich Reimer Verlag Berlin. p. 231.
- ^ Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 1. 11:129 - cited by Ussher, Annals, para. 1179
- ^ Pirnia, Iran-e-Bastan book 1, p 873
- ^ Dandamayev
- ^ Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, pp 289–290
- ^ Ancient Seals of the Near East. 1940. p. Plaque 17.
- ^ Plutarch. "Themistocles, Part II". Archived from the original on 2015-10-01.
- ^ Thucydides I, 137
- ^ Plutarch, Themistocles, 29
- ^ The Book of Daniel. Montex Publish Company, By Jim McGuiggan 1978, p. 147.
- ISBN 978-0-7607-2278-7.
- ^ Toynbee, Arnold (1961). A Study of History. Vol. 12. Oxford University Press. p. 485.
Ever since the beginning of the Babilonish Captivity, the diaspora has been Jewry's citadel and the Artaxerxes in question is Artaxerxes I (imperabat 465-424 B.C.) or Artaxerxes II (imperabat 404-359 B.C.) So we do not know whether the date of Ezra's mission was 458 B.C. or 397 B.C., or whether the date of Nehemia's mission was 445 B.C. or 384 B.C. (see G.F. Moore: Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, vol. i, p. 5). Nehemiah may have preceded Ezra
- ^ a b "Ezra". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.
- OCLC 44650958. Retrieved 13 December 2007.
- ^ John Boederman, The Cambridge Ancient History, 2002, p. 272
- ^ "Nehemiah 8 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers".
- ^ Nehemiah 2:1–9
- ^ James P. Byrd, The challenges of Roger Williams: Religious Liberty, Violent Persecution, and the Bible (Mercer University Press, 2002)[1] (accessed on Google Books on July 20, 2009)
- PMID 20832372.
- ^ Revue archéologique (in French). Leleux. 1844. p. 444-450.
- ^ The vase is now in the Reza Abbasi Museum in Teheran (inv. 53). image inscription
- ^ Xenophon, Hellenica, Book II, Chapter 1