The Book of Esther says that Vashti was the wife of King Xerxes when he first became king of Persia, followed three years later by Queen Esther. There is no historical record of this, and Queen Amestris is accepted by historians as his only wife for the first several years of his reign.
King Xerxes had the following children by Queen Amestris: Amytis, Artaxerxes I, Darius, Hystaspes, Achaemenes and Rhodogune.
His other children, Artarius, Tithraustes, Arsames (Arsamenes, Arxanes or Sarsamas), Parysatis and Ratashah were by unknown wives, but it seems that none of them could have been from Queen Esther.
Contrary to the expectations of the Book of Esther, Xerxes was succeeded by Artaxerxes, a son of Amestris, not a son of either Vashti or Esther.
So from a historical perspective, Esther never had children as a queen of Persia. Since the Book of Esther does not appear to be closely based on history, it is appropriate to read what children the book says she had, even if they were not really born. However, the story does not mention any children of Esther.
Little is known of Xerxes II, an obscure Persian king who reigned for forty five days in 424 BCE. The book of Esther tells of King Xerxes having a feast that lasted for 180 days in the third year of his reign, so that king was not intended to be Xerxes II. In any case, we know there never was a Jewish queen of Persia.
The story obviously is intended to represent Esther as the wife of Xerxes I. The wife of Xerxes I was Amestris, daughter of Otanes and first cousin to Cambyses II of Persia and Smerdis of Persia. There is no record of either Vashti or Esther outside the Book of Esther, and it can be assumed that they were characters created purely for the story.
The Midrash11 states that King Darius was the son of Esther. According to the Talmud, Darius is the same as Cyrus, the king who allowed the Second Holy Temple to be built in Jerusalem.12
A:The Book of Esther tells us that Esther married King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) of Persia and became queen. The Book of Esther is not regarded by scholars as factual, and the marriage of Esther and Xerxes is not historical. King Xerxes was married to Queen Amestris at the very time that the book says he divorced Vashti and married Esther, and remained married to Amestris for at least the next several years.
No such event is recorded in the Scroll of Esther. It was Queen Vashti, not the king, who was killed by royal decree.
Esther replaced Queen Vashti as queen after Queen Vashti refused to come to the King's banquet.
Esther was a young Jewish woman who became the queen of Persia. She was raised by her cousin Mordecai who was a minor official at the palace of Xerxes the Persian King. Xerxes divorced his wife and chose Esther to be the new queen.
A:The Book of Esther tells us that Esther married King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) of Persia and became queen, but the story ends with both Xerxes and Esther still alive so the question is unanswerable. Scholars say that the Book of Esther was really a second-century-BCE Jewish novel, so the question can not be answered from the historical record..
Queen Esther was married to King Xerxes for several years, as she became queen after winning his favor in a beauty pageant. Their marriage was an important part of the story of Esther in the Bible, where she plays a crucial role in saving the Jewish people from destruction.
Not sure. Did Esther love Xerxes? There is NO reference in the book of Esther that Esther loved the King of Persia - Xerxes.
There is NO reference in the book of Esther that Esther loved the King of Persia - Xerxes, but because of her beauty Esther had a strong influence on King Xerxes that is why her story is in the Bible.
Esther's husband was Ahasuerus king of Persia-supposed to be the Xerxes of history and dwelt at "Shushan the Capital" (ancient Susa).
Ahasuerus is believed to have been the Hebrew name for Xerxes. King Xerxes I ruled the Persian Empire at the appropriate time for the story of Esther, although he was not really her husband. He was a Mede, from a tribe closely related to the Persians and ancestral to the Iranians of today.
A:The Book of Esther does not tell us how old Esther was when she became queen to King Ahasuerus (Xerxes), so it is not possible to say just when she was born. Historians say there never was a Queen Esther (or a Queen Vashti) of Persia, and biblical scholars say that the Book of Esther was actually a novel, written in the second century BCE, so we will never have a date of birth for Esther.
A:The Book of Esther does not record any children of Queen Esther. There is no record anywhere in the Persian records of a Queen Esther, and historians say that King Xerxes was married to Queen Amestris at the very time the Book says he divorced Queen Vashti and married Esther, remaining married to her for at least the next several years. So we can not look for answers in the Bible or in history. A Jewish tradition holds that Esther had one son, Darius II. It is true that we do not know the name of the mother of Darius II, but she could not have been Queen Esther. Darius II was known as Darius Nothus (Darius the bastard) because his mother was a concubine, Artaxerxes having no surviving legitimate heir, and therefore Darius II would could not have been the son of a legitimate queen. If Esther really was married to Xerxes as stated in the Book of Esther, she would have been a legitimate queen, not a concubine. Thus, the final word comes from biblical scholars, who say that the Book of Esther was a second-century-BCE Jewish novel. The author did not intend Queen Esther to have had children.Answer:It is true that the book of Esther does not record her having had any children but we might assume that she did have children. After all King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) was besotten by Esther when he first set his eyes on her. Every King likes to leave seed, i.e. children who would take over the family name when he is gone; so it is not hard to imagine that Esther had children. According to Ohr Somayach:"While we do not know a lot about what happened to Esther, one thing that we do know is that she had a son, Darius, who became King Darius II. She brought him up to be favorable to the Jews and he eventually lifted the ban against the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple), which led to the building of the Second Temple."The Persians kept historical records, but some were lost over time. One has to imagine that either this was recorded (of Esther's son) or was not recorded at all.I find the Bible to be an accurate piece of history. We should not doubt the Bible which is the written word of God.