re: “Nobody ever doubts the existence of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus or Artaxerxes...”
Actually, at one time, the existence of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Hittites, etc. were all laughed at by 19th century “scientists, theologians, archeologists” - that us until the city of Ninevah, and many other Babylonian sites were found, along with inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar.
Possibly you are already aware of that, but just in case you weren’t, I thought I would put that info out there.
More recently, the lack of evidence for the existence of the village of Nazareth in the first century has been given as “proof” that Jesus of Nazareth never existed - that is until a first century house was discovered recently in the Nazareth.
When these archeological finds demonstrate the historical reliability of the Bible, the critics just move on to the next criticism for proof of why the Bible is “unreliable”.
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, which was considered mythological until someone actually went out and looked for it, like Troy.....................
Archaeology has done a lot to verify elements of the historical veracity of Homer’s The Iliad. As to the existence of Zeus, Aphrodite etc., not so much.
He who laughs last......
“Nazareth, can anything good come out of there?”
John 1:46