Nothing in life changes as quickly as ancient history. Every new tablet that is read, every new spade of earth that turns up a coin or pot or other artifact can suddenly change the truth of the past and force archaeologists and historians to rethink theories and redraw maps.

Ancient History

February 19, 2010
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

     Most Jews recognize the name of Cyrus the Great who conquered Elam and Babylonia to create the beginnings of the Persian Empire. Jews honor Cyrus for his decree of 538 bce, allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians forty years earlier. Despite his decree, not many Jews wished to leave the comfortable lives they had managed to create in one generation Babylonia. Besides, the new Persian empire was extremely tolerant toward Jews and Judaism which made leaving seem even more difficult.

     On Cyrus' death in battle, his kingdom passed for seven years to his son Cambyses. When Cambyses died, the popular general Darius, who was a relative of Cambyses, claimed the throne, and married into the royal Persian family. Darius should be remembered because he confirmed Cyrus' decision to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and sent resources from the royal treasury, including silver and gold that had been taken from the original Temple.

     Under Darius, we are told, the new Temple was dedicated in 516 bce. In the meanwhile, Darius extended the Persian empire east to India, south to Egypt, and west to the borders of northern Greece. He initiated a major building program which resulted in the grand palaces of two capitals, the summer capital at Susa (which we Jews call Shushan) and the winter palace of Persepolis.

     Darius died in 486 bce, in the midst of planning a major invasion of Greece, and just as Egypt began to revolt. His son, Xerxes put down the revolt in Egypt, and continued his preparations for a huge military campaign in Greece. The Persians were never able to conquer Greece, even though they managed to seize Athens and burn the Parthenon. They were defeated at Marathon in 490 and again at Salamis ten years later. Xerxes decided that the Greeks were not worth defeating and he settled down for the last decade of his life with his beloved wife Amestris amid the luxuries of Persian life in his three capitals of Ecbatana, Perseoplis, and Susa.

     There is no mention either in Persian or Greek history of any Persian queen named Vashti. But the court of Xerxes is the setting for the biblical book of Esther. Xerxes is called Ahasuerus by the book of Esther, a Hebrew transcription of his Persian name Khashayarsha which the Greeks heard as Xerxes. Based on ancient historical records, the book of Esther is a historical romance, a novel combining elements of biblical literature and elements of Persian harem literature such as the story of Scheherazade in the Thousand and One Nights.

     But that is not the end of the story -- that is not the whole megillah. We Jews always hate to think that what happens in the Bible is not historical, so I have come to give you hope. It turns out that the book of Esther may have a kernel of historical truth. The rest of the story goes like this:

     Evidently, when Jews began celebrating the holiday of Purim, it was not called Purim. It was called "the day of Mordecai." That's the way it was given in the Second Book of Maccabees which is the first record of Purim and dates to the first century bce. And in the first century ce, the Jewish historian Josephus also refers to it by the name, "the day of Mordecai."

     By this time, the rabbis already had accepted the Book of Esther as the official explanation of the holiday of Purim. But what did they know about history? They were constantly confused by facts like the correct order of the Persian kings. The rabbis even claimed that Darius was the son of Esther and Ahasuerus, which would be a neat trick since Darius was actually the father of Xerxes and I leave it to you to imagine how difficult it is to be your own grandfather.

     A lot of what the rabbis did not know was buried in the ruins of Persepolis when the palace there was burned by Alexander the Great. Modern archaeologists digging there in the 1930s, found two archives of administrative records kept by Persian government agencies during the reigns of Darius the Great, his son Xerxes and Xerxes' son, Artaxerxes I.

     One archive is known as the "Persepolis Fortification Tablets" and includes over 30,000 tablets. To date, only 2,120 of these have been translated. And some were actually written in Shushan. The other archive is called the "Persepolis Treasury Tablets" and includes were some 753 tablets there, and so far 128 have been published. Many of the rest are too worn out or broken to permit any meaningful readings.

     But, lo and behold, among all these thousands of tablets, none of them helps us at all. Only a lonely tablet found a few miles south of Baghdad, in a town known as Borsippa, a center of Marduk worship in ancient times, happens to mention a Persian official by the name of Marduka. It also mentions transactions made in the city of Susa or Shushan as we know it. There was a lot of excitement about this find, especially in the 1940s and 50s, when scholars asked the simple question, "Is it logical that there should be two Mordecais both working as officials of the Persian empire at exactly the same time?" Many scholars put forward the theory that this was proof of the historical kernel of the Book of Esther.

     According to their theory, the last couple of chapters of the Book of Esther are historical and tell the whole story of what happened in Persia. The rest, including the fabulous story of a Jewish queen, was added later to explain many of the inconsistencies of the holiday -- why it was named "Purim," why it was celebrated on two different days in different places, and so on.

     More recently, most scholars have agreed that the single reference to a Marduka does not mean that we have found the Mordecai of the Book of Esther. It is a possibility, but not a definite certainty.

     As for us, the Jews of today, at least we can bask in the glow of this possible actual historical connection. We can't say that the story of Esther is entirely correct, but we can't say that the story of Mordecai is entirely incorrect. And, in the topsy-turvy world of Purim, even the rabbis agreed that Mordecai was the more important character. After all, it was the rabbis who commanded that on Purim we should drink until we cannot tell the difference between the words "Cursed be Haman" and the words "Blessed be Mordecai." So, as we celebrate Purim next weekend, let's remember that new discoveries are always being made and nothing changes quicker than ancient history. And let us say: Amen.