How Mordechai and Esther Lived in the Persian Capital

After the megillah describes King Achashverosh and his mighty kingdom, his lavish banquet, what Queen Vashti did, and her subsequent fate, the narrative shifts focus to Mordechai and Esther:

"There was a Jewish man in the Shushan citadel, whose name was Mordechai... He was raising Hadassah, that is, Esther... When her father and mother died, Mordechai adopted her as his own daughter. And when the king's order and decree were announced, and many young women were gathered to the Shushan citadel... Esther was also taken to the king's palace..."

Mordechai lived in Persia, in Shushan the capital. The megillah emphasizes Mordechai's residence in the capital to indicate that such residency implied high status, contrasting with those who lived in the city of Shushan. This suggests Mordechai was already a person of significance before becoming the king's right-hand man.

Indeed, our sages convey that Mordechai held a senior military officer's rank in the Persian army. During wartime, another officer named Haman sought funds from him to feed his troops.

We have several details about Mordechai the Jew: his name, place of residence, the historical period he lived in, his initial role as a Persian army officer, and later as a senior figure in King Achashverosh's court. Notably, Professor Michael Heltzer, an expert in ancient Near Eastern history, stated that a recently discovered Babylonian administrative document from the city of Sippar mentions a senior official from Shushan named Marduka, who after retiring from the military became a royal treasurer during Achashverosh's reign, bearing a name reminiscent of Mordechai the Jew. The name Marduka also appears in the Murashu archive of Nippur, dating to the Persian rule in the region, with many Jewish names among them, rendered in the Aramaic spoken by Jews in dealings with non-Jews.

Some experts identify Mordechai's likeness in a stone relief from the "Treasury House" of Persian Kings in Persepolis. He is depicted behind King Achashverosh and his son, who like the king, holds a lotus flower or goblet, and unlike others in the relief, his head is fully covered.

Queen Esther

As previously mentioned regarding Queen Vashti, Persian kings did not customarily record the names of their wives, who were numerous. However, like Vashti, Esther's name survives in the writings of Herodotus, where the wife of Xerxes-Achashverosh is mentioned as Queen Amestris. The letter M is silent, and the suffix is typically omitted, resulting in the name Esther.

Interior of the Tomb of Mordechai and Esther in Hamadan, Iran, today

The megillah describes how King Achashverosh gathered the maidens he desired to marry into the "House of Women," a large edifice housing them all: "Let every beautiful young virgin be gathered to the Shushan citadel, to the House of Women."

Esther was also taken there: "And every day Mordechai walked by the courtyard of the House of Women, to know how Esther did and what became of her."

In the royal palace at Persepolis, a full-scale reconstruction of the "House of Women" has been built based on archaeological findings.

Excerpted from the book "Biblical Archaeology Volume 4" by Rabbi Zamir Cohen shlit"a, now available in stores. To purchase the book, click here.