Editing Mordecai (section)

===Book of Esther===
[[File: Franc Kavčič - Esther before Ahasuerus.jpg|thumb|Esther before Ahasuerus by [[Franc Kavčič]], 1815|left]]Although the details of the setting are entirely plausible and the story may even have some basis in actual events, some think that the [[book of Esther]] is a novella rather than history.{{sfn|Tucker|2004}} Persian kings did not marry outside of seven Persian noble families, making it unlikely that there was a Jewish queen Esther, and in any case the historical Xerxes's queen was [[Amestris]].{{sfn|Fox|2010|pp=131–140}}{{sfn|Hahn|Mitch|2019|p=71}}

There is general agreement 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''. There are wide-ranging theories regarding the origin of Purim: one popular theory says festival has its origins in a historicized Babylonian myth or ritual in which Mordecai and Esther represent the Babylonian gods [[Marduk]] and [[Ishtar]], others trace the ritual to the [[Nowruz|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 others have said the attempt to find a historical kernel to the narrative "is likely to be futile".{{sfn|Johnson|2005|p=20}}