How would you support the above with references if asked?
Especially the part about Xerxes faking his own death and calling himself ARTAxexes?
Well, there are a few things. One is an extant text dated to year 38 of an "Arses who is called Artaxerxes." Here's the whole excerpt to give you an idea of how these kings all had double names:
http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/bchp-arses/arses_2.html (Arses aka Artaxerxes)
Unfortunately comparison with the dating formulae of the
Astronomical Diaries does not help very much. In these formulae the name of the father of the reigning king is never mentioned. The formula used here is: PN ša PN2 (LUGAL) MU-šú na-bu-ú, "PN, who is called king PN2." See for example AD I, p. 152, no. -346, left edge: MU 12.KAM mÚ-ma-kuš šá mÁr-tak-šat-su LUGAL MU-šú na-bu-ú, "year 12 of Ochos, who is called king Artaxerxes (III)"; MU 38.KAM mÁr-šú LUGAL šá mÁr-tak-šat-su LUGAL MU-šú [na-bu-ú], "year 38 of king Arses, who is called king Artaxerxes (II)" (AD I, p. 136, no. -366 B lower edge; on tablet A left edge the title LUGAL, "king," added to both names, has been omitted in both cases); mÚ-ma-kuš šá mDa-a-ri-muš MU-šú SA 4, "Ochos, who is called Darius (II)" (AD I, p. 66, no. -391 B obv. 1).
Sorry for the font size issue. Thus for all the Persian kings after Artaxerxes we know their alternative names from extant texts:
Darius II was Nothus, Artaxerxes II was Mnemon, Artaxerxes III was Nothus, and Darius III was Cadomannus. Artaxerxes I ruled for 41 years and per the Bible is the same king as Artaxerxes. Thus the extant text where an "Arses [Xerxes] also known as Artaxerxes" is dated to year 38, it would tend to confirm that Xerxes' alternative name was Artaxerxes. This does not prove he's the same king, but helps us understand why the Bible calls the successor of Darius I "Artaxerxes"; that is, using his alternative thone name rather than his personal name. The Bible never mentions any Xerxes and places Artaxerxes on the throne of Persia in the sixth year of Darius:
EZRA 6:14,15: 14 And the older men of the Jews were building and making progress under the prophesying of Hag´gai the prophet and Zech·a·ri´ah the grandson of Id´do, and they built and finished [it] due to the order of the God of Israel and due to the order of Cyrus and Da·ri´us and Ar·ta·xerx´es the king of Persia. 15 And they completed this house by the third day of the lunar month A´dar, that is, in the sixth year of the reign of Da·ri´us the king.
This actually gives us the accession year of Darius' successor in his sixth year. At the same time, history confirms that Xerxes succeeded Darius to the throne and he is famous for attacking Greece. In that regard, we compare Daniel 11:2 which addresses this. The fourth king after Cyrus, which would be Darius' successor is confirmed to become the richest ever king and to fight against Greece:
“Look! There will yet be three kings standing up for Persia, and the fourth one will amass greater riches than all [others]. And as soon as he has become strong in his riches, he will rouse up everything against the kingdom of Greece."
The 4th king after Cyrus is the successor to Darius.
We add this historical note regarding when Darius came to the throne. From Plutarh, Lives, Themistocles:
Thucydides and Charon of Lampsacus say that Xerxes was dead, and that Themistocles had an interview with his son; but Ephorus, Dinon, Clitarchus, Heraclides, and many others, write that he came to Xerxes. The chronological tables better agree with the account of Thucydides, and yet neither can their statements be said to be quite set at rest.
There was always a huge controversy as to who was ruling when Themistocles fled to Persia. Plutarch actually gives a detail account of the intervew of Themistocles, but it is before Xerxes, not Artaxerxes!. Though Thucydides is considered more reliable than either Herodotus or Xenophon, Thucydides got his information from a letter circulated in Persia by Themistocles, who is in the middle of this conspiracy, and thus is not an inpartial source or independent source of who was ruling.
When we consider just these things, though there is more, all is explained if we understand that Themistocles fled to Persia seeking asylum with Xerxes and then insisted upon a year to learn the language himself and likely visited Persepolis where it appears two kings succeeded Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes, when in fact, Artaxerxes was simply the extra local throne name for Xerxes, which seems to have spawned the idea that if Xerxes wanted to, he could get away with claiming he died, faking his own death, and that the new king "Artaxerxes", his son was now on the throne. Of course, it was already known his eldest son was Darius, so as part of the propaganda, some convenient death of Darius had to be part of the story. So they came up with a violent death for Xerxes to appease to the Greeks who wanted him killed after his invasion of Greece, basically that his own son had him killed and then the brother of Darius, out of revenge, killed his brother and now was legitimately on the throne. It worked, except for some reason the letter leaked in Greece that Themistocles wrote to the king was to Artaxerxes and not Xerxes and too many historians knew that Xerxes was definitely still ruling when Themistocles fled there. Essentially, they argued back and forth when exactly did Xerxes die and Artaxerxes succeed him, but never figured out it was a scam of Themistocles and that Xerxes had faked his death.
The most obvious confirmation of this are the tombs at Naqshi-Rustam. Even though a brand new tomb for "Xerxes" was created after the first there, Artaxerxes is buried after Darius I, followed by Darius II. So Xerxes is skipped for tomb #2. Of course, that would tend to prove that the king succeeding Darius I was indeed a king named "Artaxerxes" but the same king also known as Xerxes.
There is also that "hand thing" going on with Artaxerxes that becomes an interesting identification item in the artwork at Persepolis. When you try to compare the faces of Xerxes at Persepolis with that of Artaxerxes, you cannot because all the faces are hammered off, except for one scene. But Artaxerxes became known as "Artaxerxes, Longimanus" because he had this longer right hand that became his trademark. Xerxes is shown at Persepolis to be displaying his right hand, held vertically, thus showing maximum surface area, sculped from both sides, so that in one scene you see the palm and the other the back of the hand. In another scene where he is behind the throne of Darius I, though, he is seen with his hand holding onto the back of the throne. This suggests he is connected to the throne and thus the co-ruler, which was the case. Question is, WHY did he change that more symbolic hand gesture to turn his hand sidewise? If Xerxes and Artaxerxes were the same king, then the change in hand position is understandable if the larger scene would be seen at eye level. That is, the sculpters were showing the famous longer hand off for posteriity.
There's more but at this point its fairly difficult not to see through to what actually transpired. It was a smart political move, it worked and since the Persians had control of the records of Egypt, Babylon and Assyria, revisions were easy and universal. Since this involved primarily Greek politics though, Greek historians were presumably hired to reflect the specific revisions and counterintelligence by the Persians; thus Herodotus records the history of Persia and so does Xenophon. Over time, the revisions distorted the Persian Period by some 82 years at its greatest discrepancy point, which the 1st of Cyrus.
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/xerxeshand.html (Xerxes hand position)
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/nehemiah.html (Nehemiah at Persepolis)
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/dariusxerxespalace.JPG (Xerxes at Palace of Darius)
The corrected timeline text covers more evidence. But the above is sufficient to support the Biblical limitation of the rule of Darius I to just 6 years and explain why Xerxes is called "Artaxerxes."
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/709guide.html
JC