What was the name of the king of Persia at the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem?

Question

The Book of Nehemiah refers to some king "Artaxerxes" of Persia, whereas the Book of Esther refers to some "Assuerus."

(Nehemiah 2:1) And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king: that wine was before him, and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king: and I was as one languishing away before his face.

(Esther 1:1) In the days of Assuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces:

The names are similar, although not exactly the same. Could they both in fact refer to the same individual? Kind of like how "Reuel" and "Jethro" are almost certainly two names for the same person?

Answer 1

Since Ahasuerus is distinguished from Artaxerxes(Ezra 4:5-7), and since Artaxerxes is distinguished from Darius(Ezra 4:23-24), therefore Ahasuerus is distinguished from Darius. Since also there was an Artaxerxes(Artaxerxes II) distinguished from Darius which followed Darius(Ezra 6:14, 7:1), therefore Artaxerxes II is distinguished from Ahasuerus.

Answer 2

The king in Esther, Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:6) and Ezra 4 (both Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes) probably are the same king Artaxerxes I. In Ezra he is followed by Darius II and Artaxerxes II in the later chapters, and preceded by Xerxes (not his grandfather Cyrus the Great) in the first chapter.

Names look differently in different languages, AhaSuerus is Hebrew, Artachshashta (translated as ArtaXerxes) is Aramaic (Ezra 4:7).