Esther, Queen of King Cyrus

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

Can we find queens of a king of Persia appropriate to the biblical Vashti and Esther?

 

 

Firstly it was necessary to identify:

 

“King Ahasuerus” of Book of Esther

 

https://www.academia.edu/24698880/_King_Ahasuerus_of_Book_of_Esther

 

my conclusion there being that: “ “King Ahasuerus” was Darius the Mede/Cyrus”.

Now, presuming that I am correct about the “Great King” of the Book of Esther, “Ahasuerus”, being the well-respected Cyrus - but also a Darius - it should not be too difficult to track a queen of his appropriate to the biblical Queen Esther (and to Queen Vashti as well).

Some would argue that to attempt to do so is quite a waste of time, because the Book of Esther is merely a wonderful fiction, and not properly historical.

New World Encyclopedia tells of the historically differing range of views about the Book of Esther: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Esther,_Book_of

 

….

The historical accuracy of the Book of Esther is disputed. For the last 150 years, critical scholars have seen the Esther as a work of fiction, while traditionalists argue in favor of the story being historical.

 

As early as the eighteenth century, the lack of clear corroboration of the details of the story with what was known of Persian history from classical sources led scholars to doubt that the book was historically accurate. It was argued that the form of the story—with its Cinderella-like plot—seems closer to that of a romance than a work of history, and that many of the events depicted therein are implausible and unlikely.

 

From the late nineteenth century onwards, scholars explored the theory that the story is not only a myth related to the festival of Purim, but may have been related to older Mesopotamian legends. According to this interpretation the tale celebrates the triumph of the Babylonian deities Marduk (Mordecai) and Ishtar (Esther) and/or the renewal of life in the spring. Although this view is not widely held by the religious scholars today, it remains well known. It is explored in depth in the works of Theodore Gaster.

 

Traditionalists argue that Esther derives from real history. They argue that because the feast of Purim is integral to Jewish history, there is strong reason to believe this story is indeed based upon a true, though obscure, historical event. Also, parallels between Herodotus' account of Xerxes 1 and the events in Esther have been noted.

 

Others have argued for different identifications, particularly noting traditions referring to Ahasuerus as "Artaxerxes" in Greek. In 1923, Jacob Hoschander wrote The Book of Esther in the Light of History, in which he posited that the events of the book occurred during the reign of Artaxerxes II Mnemon, in the context of a struggle between adherents of the basically monotheistic Zoroastrianism and those who wanted to bring back the Magian worship of Mithra and Anahita.

 

Some Christian readers consider this story to contain an allegory, representing the interaction between the church as 'bride' and God. This reading is related to the allegorical reading of the Song of Solomon and to the theme of the Bride of God, which in Jewish tradition manifests as the Shekinah.

[End of quotes]

 

The problem facing such critical scholars as referred to in the above quote, who have been unable to ‘corroborate the details of the story with what was known of Persian history from classical sources’, is that - according to my revision, at least - Chaldean to Medo-Persian history has been grossly over-stretched. The name “Artaxerxes”, for instance, already a title of the King Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther, has been duplicated and applied to invented “kings” of supposedly later periods. Thus it may be possible that a religious struggle during the reign of a so-called Artaxerxes II ‘Memnon’, as referred to above - he being conventionally dated to c. 400 BC - is a reminiscence of a real situation that had prevailed during the actual reign of Cyrus, i.e., during the reign of Ahasuerus (= Artaxerxes), conventionally dated about two centuries earlier than ‘Memnon’.  

 

Esther as Atossa

  

Name-wise, the standout historical queen for the biblical Esther is Atossa, wife of a Persian king. The similarity between the name “Atossa” and the Hebrew name of Esther, “Hadassah” (see my):

 

Well-Respected Mordecai. Part Five (c): The Names, Susanna, Hadassah and Esther

 

https://www.academia.edu/28585083/Well-Respected_Mordecai._Part_Five_c_The_Names_Susanna_Hadassah_and_Esther?campaign=upload_email

 

has often been noted. However, since this Atossa is considered to have been the daughter of the relevant king Cyrus, and the wife of Darius, I have not previously felt inclined to attempt to integrate her into my historical reconstructions of the Book of Esther.

That there were various queens “Atossa” in the classical sources would not concern me considering the unwarranted multiplications of kings “Artaxerxes”, and the fact that (according to my revision) king Cyrus was also called “Darius”.

Anyway, some potential new light on the situation may have been shed by Richard E. Tyrwhitt in his book, Esther and Ahasuerus: An Identification of the Persons So Named (p. 185, IV), when he writes:

 

To this conjecture, however, regarding the true significance of the term Daughter of Cyrus, when applied to Darius’s queen Atossa, it may be supposed to be an objection, that the surname or description is applied equally to another of his wives, Artystonè by name, whom he is said to have particularly loved and to have commemorated by a golden image. But Akhshurush [Ahasuerus], that is, Darius, had two crowned wives in succession, Vaśhti and Hadassah.

 

That the term, “king’s daughter”, is properly applicable to a spouse is suggested in Matthew Poole's Commentary on Psalm 45:13, at: http://biblehub.com/commentaries/psalms/45-13.htm

 

The king’s daughter, i.e. the spouse; so called, either because she was the daughter of one king, and the wife of another; or because the spouse or wife is sometimes called the husband’s daughter; partly because she is supposed to be younger than he; and partly because of that respect and subjection which she oweth to him, and that fatherly care and affection which he oweth to her.

 

Queen Esther (“Hadassah”) was indeed “younger than” King Ahasuerus.

It was quite beyond the Greek writers, such as the so-called “Father of History”, Herodotus, to sort out the complexities of Medo-Persian history, the multiple names of its protagonists - just as it was beyond their ability properly to recall the Egyptian, Mesopotamian or Syro-Palestinian histories.   

Lovely Susanna became the great Queen Esther. Supplement

 

The Names, Susanna, Hadassah and Esther

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

My conclusion in this series has been that the Susanna in Daniel became Queen Esther.  But this conclusion now presents us with three names: Susanna, Hadassah and Esther, since, as we are informed (Esther 2:7): “… Hadassah … was also known as Esther”.

 

Making Sense of the Names

 

There are a stream of similarities running through the Story of Susanna and the Book of Esther.

The Story of Susanna commences (13:1):

 

“Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was Joakim …”.

 

Whilst, according to Esther 2:5:

 

^“Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai …”.

 

In this series I have identified, as one, this “Joakim” in Babylon with this “Mordecai” in Susa.

The Babylonian (Chaldean) era had come and gone and Joakim, now as Mordecai, lived under a Medo-Persian king, in Susa. The great man had two names, the one Hebrew, Joakim (i.e., Yehoyaqim,יְהוֹיָקִם , “raised by God”), and the other his given Babylonian name: “The Talmud (Menachot 64b and 65a) relates that his full name was "Mordechai Bilshan" (which occurs in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7). Hoschander interpreted this as the Babylonian marduk-bel-shunu meaning "Marduk is their lord", "Mordecai" being thus a hypocorism”.

In the same way we can account for the name, “Esther”, the foreign name given to our heroine in Babylonian captivity (as in the Story of Susanna). The name is generally considered to derive from the Mesopotamian goddess (of fertility, love, war, sex and power), Ishtar, the same as the biblical Astarte. Previously, I had referred to Ewald’s view that the account of the two lustful elders, who accused Susanna, had its counterpart in a legend involving the Babylonian “goddess of love”, who I presumed to be Ishtar. Thus I wrote:

 

Whilst I myself am unaware of the Babylonian legend to which Ewald referred, I would find it very intriguing if this Babylonian “goddess of love” was Ishtar herself - as I think she must have been. My reason for saying this will become clear later in this series, as I proceed to develop a wider identity for Susanna in a biblical context.

 

My conclusion would be - unlike Ewald’s - that the Babylonian legend had derived from the Story of Susanna. And this Susanna, I have argued, became Queen Esther, whose name arose from the pagan “goddess of love”, Ishtar.

Regarding the name, “Hadassah”, at least one scholar, as I recall (though I no longer have the reference), had argued that it was simply a Hebrew version of Esther. I think that that might be stretching things, however. More likely, Hadassah was the woman’s Hebrew name, meaning “myrtle (tree, sprig)” – just as Mordecai had an original Hebrew name before his being given a Babylonian name as well.

That leaves us to account for the name “Susanna”, literally meaning “lilly”.

One is reluctant to suggest that the woman had two Hebrew names, Hadassah and Susanna.

A possibility, I think, is that Susanna might be a name added retrospectively, and referring to the fact that Hadassah-Esther had become, in the Medo-Persian period, the queen of Susa. Hence Susanna, “She-of-Susa”. Again a hypocorism.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan

Susan is a feminine given name, from French Susanne, from Late Latin Susanna, from Greek Sousanna, from Hebrew Šošanna, literally meaning "lily",^[1] a term derived from Susa (Persian: Šuš), a city in southwest Iran that was the ancient capital of the Elamite kingdom and Achaemenid empire.^[2]

 

Perhaps further strengthening my identification of Susanna with Queen Esther (= Ishtar) may be the Babylonian “goddess of love” legend, reminiscent of the account of the two elders, and the possible reference, in the name, “Susanna”, to the capital city of Susa, where Esther reigned.