Monday, March 25, 2024

How many Achaemenid Persian kings according to the Bible?

BELATEDLY FOR PURIM: Persia’s Achaemenid Dynasty—If You Read the Bible Without History (Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber, TheTorah.com).
Ezra-Nehemiah mentions only four of the twelve kings who ruled the Persian empire: Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. The book of Daniel also speaks of four Persian kings, and adds a fictional Darius the Mede as their precursor. Historically, the Achaemenid period lasted 220 years, but using only the kings mentioned in the Bible, rabbinic texts reconstruct a 52-year Persian period.

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