#Artaxerxes

[craigtowens]

Praying While You Work

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.  https://craigtowens.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/praying-while-you-work.mp3 Waiting for God to answer doesn’t mean sitting still and doing nothing. Sometimes we have to work, and plan, and strategize while we are praying. Check out this example from…

[garland-on-thy-brow]

LOVING this recording of Arne's Artaxerxes. Does something beautiful to the mind and senses.

[beardedmrbean]

[planet-earth-names]

Artaxerxes Golof galaxy 2716

reblog if your name isn't Amanda.

2,121,566 people are not Amanda and counting!

We’ll find you Amanda.

[brad-geiger-artaxerxes-golof]

The Holy Bible

Artaxerxes

[hyperpotamianarch]

The missing years

This title is mostly clickbait. I can only talk about the missing years as a brief introduction to the topic by a person whose entirety of knowledge on the topic comes from reading stuff on the Internet. It's true that my higher education is about Tanach and its teaching, but I didn't have a course touching this particular topic yet, so I'm not really qualified to discuss it. But because transliteration sucks, I can't tell stories from the Persian (Achaemenid) era without using their common English names, which will lead to talking about the historical characters and will get me into a mess with this. It also might be that the missing years aren't really the problem here and the actual problem is figuring out the order of events, which mostly occures during ’Ezra, which I already covered - but whatever. This is a central problem with the Achaemenid dynasty and its synchronization with Jewish accounting of years, so let's get into it.

(I'm having a look at the Wikipedia article and it's really intomidating, so can all of you vouch for me that I did, in fact, include a disclaimer? So that I wouldn't be butchered by people who actually understand the topic?)

It all starts with the traditional Jewish accounting of years, large swathes of which appear in the Tanach. Because addition is the one thing I'm good at, and for transparancy's sake, I'll jot it all down here (name of the person followed by age he gave birth to the next):

Adam 130; Shet 105; Enosh 90; Keinan 70; Mahalall'el 65; Yered 162; Ḥanoch 65; Metushelaḥ 187; Lemech 182 (source: Bereshit 5, 1-32). The sum of them all - the year Noaḥ was born - is 1056. Now, while we could look into when Noaḥ gave birth to his sons, it's more comfortable to use the dated relating to the flood. The flood is said to occur during the 600th year of Noaḥ's life (source: Bereshit 7, 11), making it end when he was 600. And I'm definitely not doing that because adding one year would throw off my calculations. (It's one year to add to everything - unless you assume "two years after the flood" is after the beginning of the flood, which would mean my original assumption will throw us off by a year back.)

Shem was said to birth his child two years after the flood. adding two more years, in addition to the 600 from before, gives us 1658 as the birth year of Arpachshad. Let's return to our regular accounting:

Arpachshad 35; Shelaḥ 30; ’Ever 34; Peleg 30; Re’u 32; Sərug 30; Naḥor 29; Teraḥ 70 (source: Bereshit 11, 10-26). This brings us to Avraham's birth at 1948 to the creation of the world. Everyone applaud! It only gets complicated from here on.

Avraham birthed Yishma’el at the age of 86 (B. 16, 16), meaning at 2034. Yitzḥak was born 14 years later (B. 21, 5: Avraham was 100 years old when Yitzḥak was born), on 2048. I could go on with the Patriarchs, but this would just get us to the question of the Egyptian exile and that's not our topic. So let's skip it and get through the tradition that the 400 years are counted from the birth of Yitzḥak, thus placing the Exodus at 2448. Shəlomo's Temple was built by 480 years after the Exodus, making it 2928. That was in the fourth year to Shəlomo's rule, and he was king forn 40 years, meaning he died at 2968, and the Temple stood for 36 years during his days.

From here on, I'm going to list the kings of Judea with years of ruling. There will be some overlap, but I want to see how well that goes: Rəḥav’am 17; Aviyam 3; Asa 41; Yehoshafat 25; Yehoram 8; Aḥazyahu 1; Yeho'ash was hidden six-seven years and was crowned at seven, and ruled for 40 years, so we'll need to add 46; Amatzyahu 29; ’Azaryah/’Uziya 52; Yotam 16 (though there is a year that magically appeared here. Literally, read Melachim B, 15, 27-32 and you'll find out what I'm talking about); Aḥaz 16; Ḥizkiya 29; Menashe 55; Amon 2; Yo'Shiyahu 31; Yəho'aḥaz less than a year, Yəhoyakim 11; Yəhoyachin less than a year, Tzidkiyahu 11; and then the Temple was destroyed. Makes the Temple having stood 429 years. Now, traditionally the Temple stood for 410 years. This can be explained by a lot of overlap, mostly. The math might still be a little off even if we make that assumption, and the three years it took Shəlomo to actually build the Temple are winking at me, but I will not be tempted. If we go purely by tradition, then the Temple was destroyed at 3338, making this the start of the Babylonian exile. And only now we get to the meat of the problem.

You see, the most comfortable time to compare to the calendars we know would be the destruction of the Second Temple, historically known to occur at 70 CE. Traditionally the Babylonian exile took 70 years and the 2nd Temple stood for 420. Add those 490 years to our calculation and you'll find the 2nd Temple was destroyed at 3828. Which is great! There's a two years difference, but if we just randomly add those, you'll find that 3830-70=5785-2025=3760, which would be the Hebrew year the Christians believe Jesus was born at. It's immaterial, but it means are accounting stayed consistent for over 1950 years. I call that an achievement.

The problem starts when we compare the historical timeline as reconstructed by modern researchers, who found that the Neo Babylonian empire - the one with Nebuchadnezzar, destroyer of the 1st Temple - has already fallen by 420 BCE, the year said Temple was supposedly destroyed during. And that's where we get the Missing Years.

The eventual calculation has led to the conclusion we have 166 missing years. They're chucked into the Achaemenid era, because it was barely described by Jewish sources even though it was longer than people claim.

This is just a problem that exists. It's not without solutions, but in the end, it might mean that our count is off. Of course, for the average researcher of Middle-Eastern history it doesn't matter - it just means that the time we start our accounting for is a bit later than we thought. It doesn't change much to them. But now there's a gaping hole inside my math. I might try to talk about the synchronization of it all with the Greek conquest, but that's not for today. Today, I just want to talk about how this clashes with my post about ’Ezra.

You see, I called the king who gave ’Ezra permission to go to Yahud Medinta Artaxerxes. This is an English transliteration of the Greek version of this Persian king. The Hebrew transliteration, transliterated to English by my system, would be Artaḥshasta'. This might be the same guy. Even likely. But there were a couple of Achaemenid kings called by that name, and I have no idea which one it is. And it's kind of important, because this king is mentioned there multiple times and I kind of need to know where to place it. The timeline matters for the understanding of what's going on.

And I really have nothing to do. All I have is the math that failed me, and incapability to be vague when speaking in another language.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

[kdmiller55]

God of the Impossible

9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. 11 So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 Then I…

[patroclusdefencesquad]

fascinated for some reason by the picture they have hanging in their silly little cruise ship medical office

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Leofric tensed. Don't screw this up, he told himself.

"I felt a little overdressed," he said instead.

"I can see why," the man said, looking Leofric up and down. "I'm Artaxerxes, by the way. Artaxerxes Payne. Just call me Art or Arty."

"Oh. I'm Leofric."

[dreamcrow]

fuck it. everyone else gets to have completely baseless headcanons, it's my turn. good news, everyone: archie is persian

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Artaxerxes' Letter for Ezra

I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers west of the Euphrates: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it must be provided promptly — Ezra 7:21 | Berean Standard Bible (BSB) The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God’s Word has been dedicated to the public domain. Cross References: Ezra 7:1; Ezra 7:6; Ezra 7:22; Ezra 8:36; Nehemiah 2:7; Daniel 6:26

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Very funny when the finale of Arne's Artaxerxes is a direct undisguised address to the king of England.

Oh yes sire, you are totally just like this problematic twink with his hands in a brother's blood.

[blogdemocratesjr]

Rock relief of Artaxerxes III in Persepolis (aka Ochus) + The Dressing by L. Fitton + The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian

[heartofashepherd]

Nehemiah: Overcoming Faith (Nehemiah 2-3) - A daily Bible study from www...

[kdmiller55]

The Good Hand of God

1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be…

[okumaodasi]

PERS KRAL MEZARLARI

III. Artaxerxes'in mezarı İran'ın Fars Eyaleti, Naqsh-e-Rostam arkeolojik alanı ve nekropolünde yer almaktadır.

III. Artaxerxes (Ochus), M.Ö. 358 ile 338 yılları arasında Ahameniş İmparatoruydu. II. Artaxerxes'in oğlu ve halefiydi ve annesi Stateira'ydı.

Artaxerxes'in Mezarı, Persepolis platformunun arkasında, babasının mezarının yanında dağa oyulmuş. Altı  tamamlanmış Ahameniş kraliyet mezarı vardır. Bunlardan dördü Naqš-e Rustam'da ve ikisi Persepolis'te keşfedildi.

Naqš-e Rustam'daki dört mezar Büyük Darius I, Xerxes, Artaxerxes I Makrocheir ve Darius II Nothus'a aittir. Daha genç görünen Persepolis Mezarları sonraki iki krala, Artaxerxes II Mnemon'a (M.Ö. 404-358) ve Artaxerxes III Ochus'a (M.Ö. 358-338) ait olmalıdır.

Mezar çoğu kez III. Artaxerxes'e atfedilir, ancak aslında kral II. Artaxerxes  Mnemon'a ait olabilir. Eğer lahit gerçekten üçüncü Artaxerxes'e aitse mezar odası aynı zamanda Artaxerxes IV Asses ve Darius III Codomannus'un son dinlenme yeri olarak da hizmet vermiş olabilir, çünkü onlara hiçbir zaman uygun bir cenaze töreni yapılmamıştır.

Adet olduğu üzere, mezarın üst kısmındaki rölyef, kralın ebedi, kutsal ateşe ve yüce tanrı Ahuramazda'ya kurban sunuşunu göstermektedir. Hükümdar, tabi ulusları temsil eden kişilerin taşıdığı bir platformun üzerinde duruyor. Bu, Nakş-ı Rüstem'deki Büyük Darius'un mezarının üst kademesinin bir kopyasıdır, ancak yazıtın da kopyalandığı Artaxerxes II Mnemon Mezarı'nı süsleyen kopyadan daha az doğrudur. Alt kısımda mezarın girişi bulunmaktadır, bir lahit ve Artaxerxes II Mnemon'un mezarındakilere benzeyen bazı küçük figürler vardır.

Bu mezarın pilasterlerinin başlıkları özellikle iyi korunmuştur, çatıyı taşıyan boğaları göstermektedir. Persepolis'in saraylarında ve kabul salonlarında da aynı tasarım uygulandı. İnsanların kralla birlikte platform taşıdığı üst katta "taşıma" motifinin tekrarlanması dikkat çekicidir.

Yörede Elamlılardan Ahameniş'e ve antik İran'ın Sasani hanedanlarına kadar uzanan kayaya oyulmuş kabartmaların yanı sıra Nakş-ı Rostam aynı zamanda İran'ın Ahameniş Krallarının yerden yüksekte yeterli sayıda evde kaya yüzeylerine oyulmuş dört mezarı da yer alıyor.

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