Apharsites
Aphar'sites (Chald. Apharsaye', אֲפִרסָיֵא; Sept. Α᾿φαρσαῖοι), the name of a tribe removed along with the Apharsachites (q.v.) to Samaria by the king of Assyria, and forming one of the opponents of the Jews after the captivity (Ezr 4:9). Hiller (Onomnast.) regards them as the Parrhasii, a tribe of Eastern Media, and Gesenius (Thes. Heb. p. 143) thinks they are the Persians, to whose name theirs certainly bears a much greater affinity, especially in the prolonged form of the latter found in Da 6:28 (Chald. Parsaya', פִּרסָיָא). The presence of the proper name of the Persians in Ezr 1:1; Ezr 4:3, must throw some doubt. upon Gesenius' conjecture; but it is very possible that the local name of the tribe may have undergone alteration, while the official and general name was correctly given.
