Artaxerxes I[a] was the fifth King of Kings of theAchaemenid Empire, from August 465 to December 424 BC.[4][5] He was the third son ofXerxes I.
In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" (Ancient Greek:μακρόχειρMakrókheir;Latin:Longimanus), allegedly because his right hand was longer than his left.[6]
Artaxerxes was probably born in the reign of his grandfatherDarius I, to the emperor's son and heir,Xerxes I. In 465 BC, Xerxes I was murdered byHazarapat ("commander of thousand")Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official in the Persian court, with the help of aeunuch, Aspamitres.[8] Greek historians give contradicting accounts of events. According toCtesias (inPersica 20), Artabanus then accusedCrown Prince Darius, Xerxes's eldest son, of the murder, and persuaded Artaxerxes to avenge the patricide by killing Darius. But according toAristotle (inPolitics 5.1311b), Artabanus killed Darius first and then killed Xerxes. After Artaxerxes discovered the murder, he killed Artabanus and his sons.[9][10]
Closeup of theZvenigorodsky seal, believed at least by one scholar to depict Artaxerxes seizing Inaros.[11]The ancient Egyptian godAmun-Min in front of Artaxerxes'cartouche.
Artaxerxes had to face a revolt inEgypt in 460–454 BC led byInaros II, who was the son of aLibyan prince named Psamtik, presumably descended from theTwenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. In 460 BC, Inaros II revolted against the Persians with the help of hisAthenian allies, anddefeated the Persian army commanded bysatrapAchaemenes. The Persians retreated toMemphis, and the Athenians were finally defeated in 454 BC, by the Persian army led byMegabyzus, after a two-year siege. Inaros was captured and carried away toSusa.
After theAchaemenid Empire had been defeated at theBattle of the Eurymedon (c. 469 BC), military action betweenGreece andPersia was at a standstill. When Artaxerxes I took power, he introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of theDelian League from the island ofDelos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at theBattle of Cyprus. AfterCimon's failure to attain much in this expedition, hostilities ceased. Later sources argue that the purportedPeace of Callias was agreed amongAthens,Argos and Persia in 449 BC; however, the existence of a formal treaty between the Greek States and Persia is disputed.
Artaxerxes I offeredasylum toThemistocles, who was probably his father Xerxes's greatest enemy for his victory at theBattle of Salamis, after Themistocles wasostracized fromAthens. Also, Artaxerxes I gave himMagnesia,Myus, andLampsacus to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. In addition, Artaxerxes I gave himSkepsis to provide him with clothes, and he also gave himPercote with bedding for his house.[12] Themistocles would go on to learn and adopt Persian customs, Persian language, and traditions.[13][14]
A King Artaxerxes[b] is described in the Bible (Ezra 7) as having commissionedEzra, akohen andscribe, by means of a letter of decree, to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation.[15]
Ezra thereby left Babylon in the first month of the seventh year[16] of Artaxerxes' reign, at the head of a company of Jews that included priests andLevites. They arrived inJerusalem on the first day of the fifth month of the seventh year according to theHebrew calendar. The text (Ezra 7) does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC) or toArtaxerxes II (404–359 BC).[17][18] Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption:[19] Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions do not overlap." However, in Nehemiah 12, both are leading processions on the wall as part of the wall dedication ceremony. So, they clearly were contemporaries working together inJerusalem at the time the wall and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in contrast to the previously stated viewpoint.[20] These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries.[19][21] However, Ezra appears for the first time in Nehemiah 8, having probably been at the court for twelve years.[22]
The rebuilding of the Jewish community inJerusalem had begun underCyrus the Great, who had permitted Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuildSolomon's Temple. Consequently, a number of Jews returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the foundation of this "Second Temple" was laid in 536 BC, in the second year of their return (Ezra 3:8). After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of Darius, 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).
In Artaxerxes' twentieth year,Nehemiah, the king'scup-bearer, apparently was also a friend of the king as in that year Artaxerxes inquired after Nehemiah's sadness.Nehemiah related to him the plight of the Jewish people and that the city of Jerusalem was undefended. The king sentNehemiah to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and toAsaph, keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city walls.[23]
Roger Williams, a 17th-century Christian minister and founder ofRhode Island, interpreted several passages in the Old and New Testament to support limiting government interference in religious matters. Williams publishedThe Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, arguing for aseparation of church and state based on biblical reasoning. Williams believed that Israel was a unique covenant kingdom and not an appropriate model for New Testament Christians who believed that the Old Testament covenant had been fulfilled. Therefore, the more informative Old Testament examples of civil government were "good" non-covenant kings such as Artaxerxes, who tolerated the Jews and did not insist that they follow his state religion.[24]
According to a paper published in 2011,[25] the discrepancy in Artaxerxes’ limb lengths may have arisen as a result of the inherited diseaseneurofibromatosis.
^Henri Gauthier,Le Livre des rois d'Égypte, IV, Cairo 1916 (=MIFAO 20), p. 152.
^Ghias Abadi, R. M. (2004).Achaemenid Inscriptions (کتیبههای هخامنشی) (in Persian) (2nd ed.). Tehran: Shiraz Navid Publications. p. 129.ISBN964-358-015-6.
^The Book of Daniel. Montex Publish Company, By Jim McGuiggan 1978, p. 147.
^Porter, J.R. (2000).The Illustrated Guide to the Bible. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. pp. 115–16.ISBN978-0-7607-2278-7.
^Toynbee, Arnold (1961).A Study of History. Vol. 12. Oxford University Press. p. 485.Ever since the beginning of the Babilonish Captivity, the diaspora has been Jewry's citadel and the Artaxerxes in question is Artaxerxes I (imperabat 465-424 B.C.) or Artaxerxes II (imperabat 404-359 B.C.) So we do not know whether the date of Ezra's mission was 458 B.C. or 397 B.C., or whether the date of Nehemia's mission was 445 B.C. or 384 B.C. (see G.F. Moore:Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, vol. i, p. 5). Nehemiah may have preceded Ezra
^James P. Byrd,The challenges of Roger Williams: Religious Liberty, Violent Persecution, and the Bible (Mercer University Press, 2002)[1] (accessed on Google Books on July 20, 2009)
