Artaxerxes I Longimanus, king of Persia 465-424 BC — the monarch behind both Ezra's and Nehemiah's commissions, and the 'this man' of Nehemiah's prayer. He appears in this literature as an ordinary administrator: stopping the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls when petitioned against it (Ezra 4), then granting his cupbearer leave, letters and timber to do the same work a few years later. ⚠ The identification is not quite certain — there were three kings of the name, and whether Ezra's seventh year (Ezra 7:7) belongs to Artaxerxes I in 458 BC or Artaxerxes II in 398 BC is the crux of the long argument over whether Ezra preceded Nehemiah or followed him.