a canonical book of the Old Testament, containing the history of a Jewish virgin, dwelling with her uncle Mordecai at Shushan, during the reign of Ahasuerus, one of the kings of Persia. The great beauty of this Jewish maiden raised her to the throne of Persia, by which means she had an opportunity of saving her countrymen, whose destruction had been plotted by Haman, a favourite of Ahasuerus.

The learned are not agreed as to who this Ahasuerus was. Archbishop Usher supposes him to have been Darius Hystaspes, and Artystona Esther. Scaliger makes him the same with Xerxes, and supposes his queen Hanestris to be Esther; but Josephus, on the contrary, positively asserts that the Ahasuerus of the Scriptures is the Artaxerxes Longimanus of profane history; and the Septuagint, throughout the whole book of Esther, translate Ahasuerus by Artaxerxes. Most people subscribe to this last opinion; and indeed the kindness which Artaxerxes showed to the Jews can scarcely be accounted for otherwise than by supposing that that people had so powerful an advocate as Esther to plead in their behalf. It may be observed, however, that the ancient Persians, who were singularly intolerant of idolatry, and the fierce destroyers of idols, wherever such were to be found, might, for this reason, be supposed favourable to a people whose religion admitted not graven images, and who, like themselves, were pure theists.