ARTAXERXES
“he whose lordship is the law”; also “big boss.”
Name of several kings of the Persian dynasty. The main ones are:
(a) Artaxerxes I LongĂmano (465-424). He ascended the throne by violently eliminating his predecessor.
(b) Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-358), son of Darius II, fought against Cyrus the Younger as Xenophon masterfully relates in his “Anabasis.”
(c) Artaxerxes III Ochos (358-338), energetic and cruel guy who eliminated the entire family; This is how historians present it to us.
Several of these are mentioned in the Bible. Ezra relates that Artaxerxes ordered the construction of Jerusalem to stop (Ezra 4:7-23); This coincides with the anti-Jewish intrigues that reigned in the court of Babylon.
This Artaxerxes is undoubtedly Artaxerxes I Longimanus, who ruled when Ezra and Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7; 6:14; 7:1; 8:1; Neh. 2:1; 5:14; 13 :6).