Esther
![''[[Queen Esther (painting)|Queen Esther]]'' (1879) by [[Edwin Long]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Esther_haram.jpg)
The Book of Esther's story provides the traditional explanation for Purim, a celebratory Jewish holiday that is observed on the Hebrew date on which Haman's order was to go into effect, which is the day that the Jews killed their enemies after Esther exposed Haman's intentions to her husband. Since the 1890s, several academics have “agreed in seeing [The Book of] Esther as a historicized myth or ritual” and generally concluded that Purim is rooted in a Babylonian or Persian myth or festival—though which one is a subject of discussion. The details of the setting of the story are plausible and may even have some basis in actual events, but there is general agreement among scholars that the book of Esther is a work of fiction.
Two related forms of the Book of Esther exist: a shorter Biblical Hebrew–sourced version found in Jewish and Protestant Bibles, and a longer Koine Greek–sourced version found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. Provided by Wikipedia
-
3661Published in Climate of the Past (2021)Contributors: “...Brady, Esther C. (author)...”
Get access
Article in Journal/Newspaper