Artaxerxes I of Persia
Artaxerxes I (Latin; Greek Ἀρταξέρξης; Persian اردشیر یکم (Ardeshir) corruption of Old Persian 𐎠𐎼𐎭𐎧𐎨𐏁𐎨[1] Artaxšacā, "whose reign is through arta (truth)"; the name has nothing to do with Xerxes)[2] was king of the Persian Empire from 465 BC to 424 BC. He was the son of Xerxes I of Persia.
He is also surnamed μακρόχειρ "Macrocheir (Latin = Longimanus)", allegedly because his right hand was longer than his left. [3] The Russian Rurikid family Dolgoruki claimed descent from him via the Georgian house of Pahlavuni.
After Persia had been defeated at Eurymedon, military action between Greece and Persia was at a standstill. When Artaxerxes I took power, he began a new tradition of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at the Battle of Cyprus. After Cimon's failure to attain much in this expedition, the Peace of Callias was agreed between Athens, Argos and Persia in 449 BC.
Artaxerxes I offered asylum to Themistocles, who was the winner of the Battle of Salamis, after Themistocles was ostracized from Athens.
Portrayal in the Book of Ezra
Artaxerxes commissioned Ezra, a Jewish priest-scribe, by means of a letter of decree, to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation. A copy of this decree may be found in Ezra 7:13-28.
Ezra thereby left Babylon in the first month of the seventh year (~ 457 BC) of Artaxerxes' reign, at the head of a company of Jews that included priests and Levites. They arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month of the seventh year (Hebrew Calendar).
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 the Temple of Solomon. A number of Jews had consequently returned back to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.
Offspring
By queen Damaspia
By Alogyne of Babylon
By Cosmartidene of Babylon
- Darius II
- Arsites
By Andia of Babylon
- Bogapaeus
- Parysatis, wife of Darius II Ochus
References
- ^
- ^ The Greek form of the name is influenced by Xerxes (Encyclopedia Iranica). The Biblical Hebrew form is ארתחשסתא Artakhshasta. In Modern Persian, he is called Ardeshir.
- ^ Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 1. 11:129 - cited by Ussher, Annals, para. 1179
See also
Preceded by
Xerxes I Great King (Shah) of Persia
465 BC–424 BC Succeeded by
Xerxes II
Pharaoh of Egypt
465 BC–424 BC