The Scorpion aka Overlord Xerxes – Xerxes I the Persian Emperor (possibly the King mentioned in the Book of Esther)
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Overlord_Xerxes
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:The_Scorpion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerxes_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahasuerus
The Scorpion, also known as Overlord Xerxes, is one of Grandfather Spider’s children. He is the second born child, and brother to The Rat. He posed as the reanimated corpse of Overlord Xerxes.
“That reanimated corpse was just a ruse. I am Scorpion, son of Spider, and brother of the Rat, who I will avenge today upon this meddling Wizard!” – The Scorpion
Xerxes I (518 – 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was the son of Darius the Great and Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great. In Western history, Xerxes is best known for his invasion of Greece in 480 BC, which ended in Persian defeat. Xerxes was designated successor by Darius over his elder brother Artobazan and inherited a large, multi-ethnic empire upon his father’s death. He consolidated his power by crushing revolts in Egypt and Babylon, and renewed his father’s campaign to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and its allies for their interference in the Ionian Revolt. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led a large army and crossed the Hellespont into Europe. He achieved victories at Thermopylae and Artemisium before capturing and razing Athens. His forces gained control of mainland Greece north of the Isthmus of Corinth until their defeat at the Battle of Salamis. Fearing that the Greeks might trap him in Europe, Xerxes retreated with the greater part of his army back to Asia, leaving behind Mardonius to continue his campaign. Mardonius was defeated at Plataea the following year, effectively ending the Persian invasion.
Ahasuerus is a name applied in the Hebrew Bible to three rulers of Ancient Persia and to a Babylonian official (or Median king) in the Book of Tobit. It is a transliteration of either Xerxes I or Artaxerxes; both are names of multiple Achaemenid dynasty Persian kings.
The Hebrew form is believed to have derived from the Old Persian name of Xerxes I, (Xšayāršā ‘king of all male; Hero among Kings’). That became Babylonian Aḥšiyâršu and then Akšîwâršu and was borrowed into Hebrew as אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ Ăḥašwêrôš and thence into Latin as Ahasuerus, the form traditionally used in English Bibles.
The Persian name was independently rendered in Ancient Greek as Ξέρξης Xérxēs. Many newer English translations and paraphrases of the Bible have used the name Xerxes.
“Ahasuerus” is given as the name of a king, the husband of Esther, in the Book of Esther. He is said to have “ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Nubia” — that is, over the Achaemenid Empire. There is no reference to known historical events of the reign of Xerxes in the story. Outside of the book of Esther, history records that Xerxes was married to Amestris, not Vashti or Esther. In the Septuagint, the Book of Esther refers to the king as ‘Artaxerxes,’ who was the younger son of Xerxes
The current list of all the (known) Mirage references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Overlord Xerxes and The Scorpion images are from Wizard101, and are copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment
Rock relief of Xerxes I is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is copyright the National Museum of Iran and is shared under the CC BY 3.0 Creative commons license.
Ahasuerus and Haman at Esther’s Feast, by Rembrandt image is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Vulcan Stev's Database 