Editing Book of Esther (section)

== Historical reading ==
[[File:The Feast of Esther - Jan Lievens - Google Cultural Institute.jpg|thumb|280px|''The Feast of Esther'' (''Feest van Esther'', 1625) by [[Jan Lievens]], [[North Carolina Museum of Art]]]]

Those arguing in favour of a historical reading of Esther most commonly identify Ahasuerus with [[Xerxes I]] (ruled 486–465&nbsp;BCE),<ref name= "Between" /> although in the past it was often assumed that he was [[Artaxerxes II]] (ruled 405–359&nbsp;BCE). The Hebrew ''Ahasuerus'' (''ʔaḥašwērōš'') is most likely derived from [[Persian language|Persian]] ''Xšayārša'', the origin of the Greek ''Xerxes''. The Greek historian [[Herodotus]] wrote that Xerxes sought his [[harem]] after being defeated in the [[Greco-Persian Wars]]. He makes no reference to individual members of the harem except for a domineering [[Queen consort]] named [[Amestris]], whose father, [[Otanes]], was one of Xerxes's generals. (In contrast, the Greek historian [[Ctesias]] refers to a similar father-in-law/general figure named Onaphas.) Amestris has often been identified with [[Vashti]], but this identification is problematic, as Amestris remained a powerful figure well into the reign of her son, [[Artaxerxes I]], whereas Vashti is portrayed as dismissed in the early part of Xerxes's reign.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Esther|1:19|NKJV}}</ref> Alternative attempts have been made to identify her with Esther,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Vashti, Amestris and Esther 1,9 |journal=Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |last=Hubbard |first=Robert L. |issue=2 |volume=119 |pages=259–271 |doi=10.1515/ZAW.2007.020 |year=2007|s2cid=170144015 }}</ref> although Esther is an orphan whose father was a Jew named Abihail.

As for the identity of Mordecai, the similar names ''Marduka'' and ''Marduku'' have been found as the name of officials in the Persian court in over thirty texts from the period of Xerxes I and his father [[Darius I]], and may refer to up to four individuals, one of whom might be the model for the biblical Mordecai.

The "Old Greek" Septuagint version of Esther translates the name Ahasuerus as ''Artaxerxes'',<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/17-esther-nets.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327112355/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/17-esther-nets.pdf |archive-date=2014-03-27 |title=A New English Translation of the Septuagint |chapter=Esther}} Note on two Greek versions of the book of Esther.</ref> a Greek name derived from the Persian ''Artaxšaθra''. [[Josephus]] too relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks, and the [[Midrash]]ic text ''Esther Rabba'' also makes the identification. [[Bar Hebraeus]] identified Ahasuerus explicitly as Artaxerxes II; however, the names are not necessarily equivalent: Hebrew has a form of the name ''Artaxerxes'' distinct from ''Ahasuerus'', and a direct Greek rendering of ''Ahasuerus'' is used by both Josephus and the Septuagint for occurrences of the name outside the Book of Esther. Instead, the Hebrew name Ahasuerus accords with an inscription of the time that notes that Artaxerxes II was named also ''Aršu'', understood as a shortening of ''Aḫšiyaršu'' the Babylonian rendering of the Persian ''Xšayārša'' (Xerxes), through which the Hebrew ''ʔaḥašwērōš'' (Ahasuerus) is derived.<ref name="Hosch">Jacob Hoschander, ''The Book of Esther in the Light of History'', Oxford University Press, 1923 {{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref> [[Ctesias]] related that Artaxerxes II was also called ''Arsicas'' which is understood as a similar shortening with the Persian suffix ''-ke'' that is applied to shortened names. [[Deinon]] related that Artaxerxes II was also called ''Oarses'' which is also understood to be derived from ''Xšayārša''.<ref name="Hosch"/>

Another view attempts to identify him instead with Artaxerxes I (ruled 465–424 BCE), whose Babylonian concubine, Kosmartydene, was the mother of his son [[Darius II]] (ruled 424–405 BCE). Jewish tradition relates that Esther was the mother of a King Darius and so some try to identify Ahasuerus with Artaxerxes I and Esther with Kosmartydene.

Based on the view that the Ahasuerus of the [[Book of Tobit]] is identical with that of the Book of Esther, some have also identified him as Nebuchadnezzar's ally [[Cyaxares]] (ruled 625–585&nbsp;BCE). In certain manuscripts of Tobit, the former is called ''Achiachar'', which, like the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''Cyaxares'', is thought to be derived from Persian ''Huwaxšaθra''. Depending on the interpretation of Esther 2:5–6, Mordecai or his great-grandfather Kish was carried away from [[Jerusalem]] with [[Jeconiah]] by [[Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon|Nebuchadnezzar]], in 597 BCE. The view that it was Mordecai would be consistent with the identification of Ahasuerus with Cyaxares. Identifications with other Persian monarchs have also been suggested.

Jacob Hoschander has argued that the name of Haman and that of his father Hamedatha are mentioned by [[Strabo]] as ''Omanus'' and ''Anadatus,'' worshipped with Anahita in the city of [[Zile|Zela]]. Hoschander suggests that Haman may, if the connection is correct, be a priestly title and not a proper name.<ref name="Hosch" /> Strabo's names are unattested in Persian texts as gods; however the Talmud<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sanhedrin 61b|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.61b|access-date=2021-02-17|website=www.sefaria.org|archive-date=2021-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416082338/https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.61b|url-status=live}}</ref> and Josephus<ref>{{Cite web|title=Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-11.html|access-date=2021-02-17|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|archive-date=2023-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702203529/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-11.html|url-status=live}}</ref> interpret the description of courtiers bowing to Haman in Esther 3:2 as worship. (Other scholars assume "Omanus" refers to [[Vohu Mana]].)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Matassa|first1=Lidia D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xc9MAwAAQBAJ|title=Text, Theology, and Trowel: New Investigations in the Biblical World|last2=Silverman|first2=Jason M.|year=2011|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-60899-942-2|access-date=2021-02-17|archive-date=2023-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111154150/https://books.google.com/books?id=Xc9MAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWiMV6llZesC&q=%22omanus%22+%22vohu+manah%22&pg=PA264|title=Handbuch der Orientalistik: Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten|date=1991|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09271-6|access-date=2021-05-13|archive-date=2023-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111154150/https://books.google.com/books?id=MWiMV6llZesC&q=%22omanus%22+%22vohu+manah%22&pg=PA264#v=snippet&q=%22omanus%22%20%22vohu%20manah%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Dhalla|first=Maneckji Nusservanji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtYVloWlvUgC&q=%22omanus%22+%22vohu+manah%22&pg=PA187|title=Zoroastrian Theology: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day|date=1914|publisher=s.l.|archive-date=2023-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111154155/https://books.google.com/books?id=XtYVloWlvUgC&q=%22omanus%22+%22vohu+manah%22&pg=PA187#v=snippet&q=%22omanus%22%20%22vohu%20manah%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

In his ''Historia Scholastica'' [[Petrus Comestor]] identified Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1) as [[Artaxerxes III]] who reconquered Egypt.<ref name="Comestor" />