Also known to the Greeks as Longimanus ('Long Hand'), Artaxerxes I was the fifth king of the Persian Empire,whose reign saw the return of Ezra (Ezr 4:7) and Nehemiah (the king's cup-bearer, 2:1) to Jerusalem and the brief but highly significant ministry of Malachi (though the king's name is nowhere mentioned in the book).
Artaxerxes's reign was not distinguished in any particular way. By his time the Greco-Persian Wars begun by Darius I was already past its height, and Persian attempts to influence affairs in the Greek world was largely reduced to financing their enemies rather than direct action. Henceforth the story of the Persian Empire was one of slow decay until its demise at the hands of Alexander the Great in 331 BC.
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