[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Very interesting. I never put all those different references together. Thanks very much.

[Ancesthntr]

“At Shushan the Medo Persian ruler Darius had built a palace, the ruins of which remain to this day. The Palace features prominently in the book of Esther, as the home of Xerxes,(Ahasuerus) and his bride Esther. All of the drama with Haman, Esther, Mordechai and the King took place at Shushan and around and in that Palace.”

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I have always wondered if the King Ahasuerus was the same as Xerxes who attacked Greece and was met (and bloodied badly) by the 300 Spartans and Leonidas. “Ahasuerus” might be Artaxerxes, a different ruler. Many sources say they are not the same person, that Purim occurred in the mid-300s BCE (vs. 480 for the invasion of Greece), but this source (answer 2), seems to indicate that they are one and the same: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/35457/when-in-history-did-purim-happen

I’d love to hear anybody’s insights into this question.