Rashi, on Esth 1:1

“In the days of Assuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces:”

“Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus He was the king of Persia who reigned instead of Cyrus at the end of the seventy years of the Babylonian exile. he was the Ahasuerus He was equally wicked from beginning to end. who reigned He reigned on his own, and was not of royal seed. from Hodu to Cush, etc. He reigned over one hundred twenty-seven provinces as he reigned from Hodu to Cush, which are situated alongside one another, and so [we explain] (I Kings 5:4): “For he had dominion over all [the inhabitants of] this side of the river, from Tiphsah even to Gaza,” meaning that he had dominion over all the inhabitants of this side of the river, just as he had dominion from Tiphsah to Gaza.”

Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.