Commentary for Rosh Hashanah 6:12

מתקיף לה רב כהנא ומי החמיץ והכתיב

Darius, and Artaxerxes<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Mentioned together in Ezra, VI, 14.');">¹⁴</span> were all one. He was called Cyrus because he was a worthy king;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra, p. 8, n. 4.');">¹⁵</span> Artaxerxes after his realm;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [The Persian Artakhshathra means 'by whom empire is perfected'].');">¹⁶</span> while Darius was his own name. All the same, the contradiction still remains?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Between the statements in Haggai and in Ezra.');">¹⁷</span> - There is no contradiction. The one verse<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Haggai, which reckons his years from Nisan.');">¹⁸</span> speaks of him before he degenerated,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'fermented', a metaphor either from wine turning to vinegar or from flour becoming leaven. The 'evil imagination' is often compared by the Sages to a 'leaven'.');">¹⁹</span> the other after he degenerated. R'Kahana strongly demurred to this [saying], Did he indeed degenerate? Is it not written,

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