Was Esther the mother of King Cyrus?
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Asked September 25 2013
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anne smith
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Wayne Myhre
I am an author of Biblical history, and have studied the arguments for Esther. A case can be made for a number of Persian monarchs, but in the end, I think it wise to go with the LXX (Septuagint) here.The seventy translators of the Septuagint would have been in a position, writing just after that period of history, to know who Esther’s king was. They not only wrote from Alexandria, next to the greatest library of ancient history, but they wrote just after the period in discussion, the Persian Period. Throughout the book of Esther they name him, Artaxerxes, referring to Artaxerxes the great, Longimanus. Though scholars in the past have also identified this Artaxerxes with Longimanus, some recently have questioned that they were referring to Longimanus; but it is well known that he was the first to use this title as a throne name. If they wanted to refer to another Persian monarch, such as Darius, who is so named in 1 Esdras, it is likely they would have written “Darius.”
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