The source of this discrepancy is in the accounting of the Persian period.
Greek
historians (such as Herodotus, Ctesias, Xenophon, and others who lived after the
events and collected oral histories) speak of 10 Persian kings who ruled for 208
years. By contrast, the Biblical Jewish account speaks of four kings ruling 52
years.
The confusion stems from the fact that one person may have several
names. For example Clinton, President, and Hillary's Husband may all be names
for the same person. So too, Arta-Khsharta is a title used by all Persian kings
and means literally "Fit for the Kingdom", yet Artaxerxes is listed
separately as three kings in the Greek lists.
Another point of contention
focuses on the war between Darius and Alexander. These are commonly thought to
be an earlier Darius and Alexander, due to the "interposing" Artaxerxes
kings. That makes Alexander the Great into Alexander II and Darius who permitted
the rebuilding of the Second Temple into a later Darius. Yet, many Jewish scholars
feel that both Alexanders are the same person; so too with Darius.
For more
details, see Brad Aaronson's article "Fixing the History Books," published
in the Summer 1991 edition of Jewish Action magazine.
By the way, if you
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or in person, Aish.com, in conjunction with Partners in Torah, would be happy
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With blessings from
Jerusalem,
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