ARTAXERXES är’ tə zûrk’ sez (אַרְתַּחְשַׁ֥סְתְּא, LXX ̓Αρταξέρξης, Pers. Artakhshathra, Arta’s Kingdom). There were three kings with the name of Artaxerxes, but external evidence indicates which of the three was Nehemiah’s patron. The Elephantine papyri show that in 408 b.c. Sanballat was an old man, whose work as governor of Samaria was to all intents and purposes in the hands of his two sons (Sachau, Pap. i. 29). This means that the Artaxerxes in whose reign Nehemiah lived must have been Artaxerxes I (464-424 b.c.), since obviously Sanballat was then in the prime of life. It would be impossible to identify the reigning king with Artaxerxes II or III. Therefore, in making Ezra overlap Nehemiah, the Chronicler intended to place Ezra also in the same reign. Ezra came to Jerusalem in 458 b.c., i.e. the seventh year of Artaxerxes I (Ezra 7:7), and Nehemiah in 445 b.c., i.e. the twentieth year of the same reign (Neh 1:1) (J. S. Wright, The Date of Ezra’s Coming to Jerusalem, pp. 5, 6).

This means, then, that the Artaxerxes of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah was Artaxerxes I Longimanus, the son and successor of Xerxes I (the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6 and the Book of Esther). He is prob. the Artaxerxes of Ezra 4:7-23, but this identification presupposes that vv. 6-23 are somewhat parenthetical, providing further information on the subject of opposition from a later period (for a defense of such an understanding of that problematic passage, cf. ibid., pp. 17-26). It should be added that several years after the events of Ezra 4:7-23, Artaxerxes was generous to the Jews in general and to Ezra and Nehemiah in particular. The latter was even the royal cupbearer. It was Artaxerxes’ decree (445 b.c.) permitting Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem as governor of civil affairs and to rebuild the walls and fortifications (Neh 2) that marked the beginning of the seventy “weeks” of Daniel 9:24-27 (cf. Walvoord’s comments on these vv.).

Bibliography A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (1948); J. S. Wright, The Date of Ezra’s Coming to Jerusalem (1958); J. Bright, A History of Israel (1959); A History of Israel reviewed by K. A. Kitchen, Supplement to the Theological Students’ Fellowship Bulletin (Summer, 1964), particularly pp. vi, vii; J. F. Walvoord, Daniel (1970).