The problems connected with the dating of Artaxerxes I of Persia have long intrigued Biblical historians, because the 7th and 20th regnal years of that king are mentioned in the Bible in connection with important events in the history of Israel, yet these events have been given differing B.C. dates in different works.
The discovery of the Brooklyn Museum Aramaic papyri (published by Draeling in 1953)--an additional group of double-dated fifth-century papyri from Elephantine--led to the writing of the present work.
This book is now being republished in the hope that it will continue to clarify the subject and bring a solution of a somewhat difficult problem in Biblical chronology.