AHASUERUS (old Pers. Khshayârshâ ). The Persian king (b.c. 485 465) known to Greek history as Xerxes . Complaints against the Jews were addressed to him ( Ezra 4:6 ). It is he who figures in the Book of Esther; Daniel 9:1 erroneously makes him father of Darius the Mede, confusing the latter with Darius Hystaspis, the father of Xerxes. The Ahasuerus of Tob 14:15 is Cyaxares.
J. Taylor.