[38][note 1], Christine Hayes contrasts the Book of Esther with apocalyptic writings, the Book of Daniel in particular: both Esther and Daniel depict an existential threat to the Jewish people, but while Daniel commands the Jews to wait faithfully for God to resolve the crisis, in Esther the crisis is resolved entirely through human action and national solidarity. Another view attempts to identify him instead with Artaxerxes I (ruled 465–424 BC), whose Babylonian concubine, Kosmartydene, was the mother of his son Darius II (ruled 424–405 BC). Those arguing in favour of a historical reading of Esther most commonly identify Ahasuerus with Xerxes I (ruled 486–465 BC),[6] although in the past it was often assumed that he was Artaxerxes II (ruled 405–359 BC). 335–341, literary view, Thespis: Ritual, Myth, and Drama in the Ancient Near East by, White, Sidnie Ann. In contrast, the additions are included in the Biblical apocrypha, usually printed in a separate section (if at all) in Protestant bibles. He is reminded that Mordecai interceded in the previous plot against his life, and discovers that Mordecai never received any recognition (6:2–3). Ahasuerus appoints Haman as his viceroy (3:1). Advocates argue that the names of the characters in Esther – Mordechai, Esther, Haman, and Vashti – are Marduk, patron deity of the city of Babylon, Ishtar, Babylonian goddess of fertility, Khumban, the Elamite god of the sky, and Mashti, an Elamite goddess. Identifications with other Persian monarchs have also been suggested. On the seventh day of the latter banquet, Ahasuerus orders the queen, Vashti, to display her beauty before the guests by coming before them wearing her crown (1:10–11). The book purports to explain how the feast of Purim came to be celebrated by the Jews. There is a problem with the timing, too, which could also be an artifact of the book having been redacted long years after the event. This is appropriate given that Esther describes the origin of a Jewish feast, the feast of Purim, but Purim itself is not the subject and no individual feast in the book is commemorated by Purim. Jacob Hoschander has argued that evidence of the historicity of Haman and his father Hamedatha is seen in Omanus and Anadatus mentioned by Strabo as being honoured with Anahita in the city of Zela. Josephus too relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks, and the Midrashic text Esther Rabba also makes the identification. accordance with site policy. By the time the Greek version of Esther was written, the foreign power visible on the horizon as a future threat to Judah was the Macedonians of Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persian empire about 150 years after the time of the story of Esther; the Septuagint version noticeably calls Haman a "Bougaion" (βουγαῖον)[incomprehensible] where the Hebrew text describes him as an Agagite. [27][28] In Esther 2:5–6, either Mordecai or his great-grandfather Kish is identified as having been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II in 597 BC: "Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah". Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh's ministers, and Mordechai saves Ahasuerus from an assassination attempt – yet both go unrewarded. "Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible): Lecture 24 – Alternative Visions: Esther, Ruth, and Jonah", "The Book of Esther: Opus non gratum in the Christian Canon", "The Internet Antique Shop – The Web's largest antiques & collectibles mall serving collectors since 1995", Extract from The JPS Bible Commentary: Esther by Adele Berlin, Reading the Megilla and Publicizing the Miracle, minhagim (customs) and halachot (laws) by Rabbi, Hearing the Book of Esther with a short translation by Rabbi Yonadav Zar In Hebrew, Esther: 2012 Critical Translation with Audio Drama, A Megillah (scroll of the Book of Esther), Esther scrolls in the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Book_of_Esther&oldid=983481340, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018, All Wikipedia articles that are incomprehensible, Wikipedia articles that are incomprehensible from February 2020, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, an opening prologue that describes a dream had by Mordecai, the contents of the decree against the Jews, prayers for God's intervention offered by Mordecai and by Esther, an expansion of the scene in which Esther appears before the king, with a mention of God's intervention, a copy of the decree in favor of the Jews, a passage in which Mordecai interprets his dream (from the prologue) in terms of the events that followed.