Artaxerxes = the great king. Used here of the Cyrus of Ezr_4:3. See App-57, and p. 618. Ezr_4:7-23 may also be retrospective of Neh_2:20Neh_6:5,
companions = colleagues or associates.
the Syrian tongue: i.e. in Aramaic characters as well as in the Aramaic language. Compare Est_1:22; Est_8:9, where "writing" (Hebrew. kathab, to grave) is the same word as in this book.