Editing Esther (section)

== Historicity ==
Although the details of the setting are entirely plausible and the story may even have some basis in actual events, there is general agreement among scholars that the [[book of Esther]] is a work of fiction.{{sfn|Tucker|2004}}{{Efn|"Today there is general agreement that it is essentially a work of fiction, the purpose of which was to justify the Jewish appropriation of an originally non-Jewish holiday. What is not generally agreed upon is the identity or nature of that non-Jewish festival which came to be appropriated by the Jews as Purim, and whose motifs are recapitulated in disguised form in Esther." {{harvcol|Polish|1999}} "The story is fictitious and written to provide an account of the origin of the feast of Purim; the book contains no references to the known historical events of the reign of Xerxes." {{harvcol|Browning|2009}} "Although the details of its setting are entirely plausible and the story may even have some basis in actual events, in terms of literary genre the book is not history." {{harvcol|Tucker|2004}}}} Persian kings did not marry outside of seven Persian noble families, making it unlikely that there was a Jewish queen Esther.{{sfn|Fox|2010|pp=131–140}}{{sfn|Hahn|Mitch|2019|p=72}}{{efn|name="Littman"}} Further, the name ''Ahasuerus'' can be translated to ''Xerxes'', as both derive from the [[Old Persian|Persian]] ''Khshayārsha.''<ref name="Baumgarten">{{cite book |last1= Baumgarten |first1= Albert I. |last2=Sperling |first2=S. David |last3= Sabar |first3=Shalom |editor1-last= Skolnik |editor1-first=Fred |editor2-last=Berenbaum |editor2-first=Michael |title= Encyclopaedia Judaica |edition=2nd|volume=18 |location= Farmington Hills, MI |publisher=Macmillan Reference |year=2007 |page=216}}</ref><ref name="larkin">{{cite book |first= Katrina J.A. |last=Larkin |title=Ruth and Esther (Old Testament Guides) |location= Sheffield, UK|publisher= Sheffield Academic Press |year= 1996|page= 71}}</ref> Ahasuerus as described in the Book of Esther is usually identified in modern sources to refer to [[Xerxes I]],<ref>{{cite book |first= Sidnie White |last= Crawford|author-link=Sidnie White Crawford|chapter= Esther |editor-first=Carol A. |editor-last=Newsom |editor-first2=Sharon H. |editor-last2=Ringe |title= Women's Bible Commentary| location= Louisville|publisher=Westminster John Knox |year=1998|page=202}}</ref><ref name="Between">{{cite book |first=Jill |last= Middlemas |editor-first=Bob E.J.H. |editor-last= Becking |editor-first2=Lester |editor-last2=Grabbe |title= Between Evidence and Ideology | location=Leiden|publisher= Brill |year=2010|page=145 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DF7RzZJXM-UC&pg=PA145|isbn= 978-9004187375 }}</ref> who ruled between 486 and 465 BCE,<ref name="Baumgarten" /> as it is to this monarch that the events described in Esther are thought to fit the most closely.<ref name="larkin" />{{sfn|Moore|1971|page=xxxv}} However, Xerxes I's queen was [[Amestris]], further highlighting the fictitious nature of the story.{{sfn|Fox|2010|pp=131–140}}{{sfn|Hahn|Mitch|2019|p=71}}{{efn|name="Littman"|"Xerxes could not have wed a Jewess because this was contrary to the practices of Persian monarchs who married only into one of the seven leading Persian families. History records that Xerxes was married to Amestris, not [[Vashti]] or Esther. There is no historical record of a personage known as Esther, or a queen called Vashti or a [[vizier]] [[Haman]], or a high placed courtier [[Mordecai]]. Mordecai was said to have been among the exiles deported from Jerusalem by [[Nebuchadnezzar]], but that deportation occurred 112 years before Xerxes became king." {{harvcol|Littman|1975|p=146}}}} 

Some scholars speculate that the story was created to justify the Jewish appropriation of an originally non-Jewish feast.{{sfn|Macchi|2019|p=40}} The festival which the book explains is [[Purim]], which is explained as meaning "lot", from the Babylonian word ''puru''. One popular theory says the festival has its origins in a historicized Babylonian myth or ritual in which Mordecai and Esther represent the Babylonian gods [[Marduk]] and [[Ishtar]], while others trace the ritual to the Persian New Year, and scholars have surveyed other theories in their works.{{sfn|Johnson|2005|p=20}} Some scholars have defended the story as real history,{{sfn|Kalimi|2023|p=130}} but the attempt to find a historical kernel to the narrative is considered "likely to be futile" in a study by Sara Raup Johnson.{{sfn|Johnson|2005|p=20}}