Mithredath

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MITHREDATH

MITHREDATH (Heb. מִתְרְדָת; lxx, Mithradates ), a popular Persian name meaning "Given by Mithra," and borne by kings of Parthia and Pontus and a king of Armenia. The name Mithredath occurs in the Elephantine papyri (Cowley, Aramaic, 26:2, 7; E.G. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri (1953), 3:23b) and designates two individuals in the Bible. One is the treasurer whom Cyrus ordered to deliver the Temple vessels to Sheshbazzar, for return to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:8). The other is an official who apparently wrote a letter to Artaxerxes I against Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7).

bibliography:

R.A. Bowman, in: The Interpreter's Bible, 3 (1954), 574, 598–9; J.M. Myers, Ezra-Nehemiah (1965, Anchor Bible), 9, 32ff.

[Bezalel Porten]

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