Book of Esther: Encyclopedia II - Book of Esther - Interpretation of Esther as an allegory of Babylonian Mythology

Book of Esther - Interpretation of Esther as an allegory of Babylonian Mythology

The History of Religions school of thought, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, argued against the historicity of the Bible by drawing comparisons between Biblical narratives and pagan myths. In particular, these scholars drew comparisons between individuals in the Book of Esther and various real and alleged Babylonian and Elamite gods and goddesses:

• Esther was equated with the similarly sounding Ishtar. Her original Hebrew name Hadassah was compared with Akkadian hadashatu said to be a title of Ishtar meaning "bride". The custom of preparing hamantaschen at Purim is reminiscent of a description of Ishtar in Jeremiah 7:18, when it was customary "to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven."

• Mordecai was equated with Marduk. Marduk is a cousin of Ishtar in Chaldean mythology, as was Mordecai a cousin of Esther.

• Vashti was said to be an Elamite goddess named Mashti.

• Haman was said to be an Elamite god named Uman or Human (or other variations) or alternatively a Babylonian demon.

• The festival of Purim was equated with various real and conjectural pagan festivals, including an alleged Elamite or Babylonian festival marking the victory of Ishtar and Marduk over Uman and Mashti similar to the triumph of Esther and Mordecai over their rivals Haman and Vashti. Other suggestions were: the Babylonian New Year festival (Sumerian Zagmuk, Akkadian Akitu, called Sacaea by Berosus) honouring Marduk -it was suggested that purim ("lots") originally referred to a belief that the gods chose one's fate for the year by lots; the Persian festival of Farvardigan; or the Greek festival of Pithoigia ("wine flask opening") - it was noted that Hebrew for wine press is purah resembling purim.

These views have largely been rejected by later scholars:

• Ishtar was well known to the Jews who opposed her worship, moreover her name in Hebrew is Ashtoreth which is phonetically unrelated to Esther despite the superfical similarity when transliterated into English (consonantal root aleph-shin-tav-resh vs ayin-samech-tav-resh). Esther is most commonly understood to be related to the Persian word for star and the Median word for myrtle, and the Hebrew name Hadassah means myrtle. (See Esther for a discussion of the meaning of the name.) Akkadian hadashatu is not a standard title of Ishtar, it occurs once in a description of Ishtar as a "new bride" and its meaning is "new" not "bride". It is a cognate of Hebrew hadash (with a guttural h) and is phonetically unrelated to "Hadassah" (consonantal root chet-dalet-shin vs he-dalet-samech). Moreover hamantaschen originated amongst Jews of Eastern Europe in relatively recent times.

• The name Mordecai is indeed most commonly connected with that of the god Marduk but its meaning is understood to be "[servant] of Marduk". It is considered equivalent to Marduka or Marduku, well attested in the Persepolis texts as a genuine name of the period. Jewish tradition relates that it was a replacement of his Hebrew name Bilshan. (Similar accounts of Jews in exile being assigned names relating to Babylonian gods is seen in the Book of Daniel.) Babylonian gods and goddesses are indeed organized into familes making many including Marduk and Ishtar some form of cousins but this is never a point explicitly stated in Babylonian texts.

• An Elamite goddess named Mashti is purely conjectural and unattested in sources, whereas "Vashti" can be understood as a genuine Persian name meaning "beautiful".

• Elamite theophoric elements such as Khuban, Khumban or Khumma are known but are pronounced with an initial guttural consonant and not as Uman or Human, and are phonetically unrelated to the Persian name Haman meaning "magnificent". The Babylonian demon is named Humbaba or Huwawa also pronounced with an initial guttural consonant kh and unrelated to Haman.

• An Elamite or Babylonian festival marking a victory of Ishtar and Marduk over alleged Uman and Mashti is purely conjectural and unattested in sources. The Babylonian New Year occurs at a very different date to Purim (in the month of Nisan not Adar). A decision of fate by lots by the gods is not attested in any sources. Farvardigan was a five day commeration of the dead bearing no resemblance to Purim. Pithoigia also occurs at a different time to Purim and although Purim is celebrated with wine drinking this not its focus; moreover the plural of the Hebrew for wine press is puroth not purim.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Interpretation of Esther as an allegory of Babylonian Mythology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki