Esther and Herodotus: Supporting characters.

Vashti is a supporting character who appears in the first and second chapters of Esther and nowhere else. She is called Xerxes's queen and appears to have some power and quite a bit of hutzpah. There seems to be a great many  Jewish legends surrounding her.

Xerxes's number one wife and actual queen was named Amestris, which is thought to mean "strong woman." She was the daughter of Otanes, a commander of the Persian army, and his wife, who was possibly the sister of Darius I. Darius I was also Xerxes's father. That would make Xerxes and Amestris cousins. (It was not unusual for royals to marry in the family, from ancient times on into the modern era.) Herodotus mentions the name  Otanes numerous times. However, they might not all be the same person. Herodotus mentions Amestris a few times and we will look at some of that later. I encourage you to read through the links provided to get a better picture of the time period and the royal families. For this study, I will assume that Vashti and Amestris are the same person.

Mordecai is another supporting character who, if you remember, was Esther's cousin and raised her when her parents died. He is said to have been of the tribe of Benjamin, which is the same tribe king David came from. He was supposedly the great grandson of one Kish, who was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar II, along with the king of Judah. The implication seems clear that Mordecai is presumed to be the descendant of a man who, even if he might not have been royalty, hung out with royalty. He is possibly nobility himself. Also, there is a chance that his name is derived from the name of the god Marduk who just happens to be associated with a different Nebuchadnezzar. Mordecai of this story is not known to actually be an historical figure, however there are multiple texts from the time of Xerxes I that mention officials named Mordecai. The person who wrote this account seems to have been familiar with that fact.

Haman is the last character I will cover before we begin reading the story. He is our villain. Haman will first appear in chapter three when Xerxes honors him by elevating him higher than all the other nobles. The reader is informed that he is the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, that means he is supposedly a member of the family tribe of Agag. Calling him an Agagite could be a pun.

Here's where things get interesting. If you read the Wikipedia article on Agag. You will see a statement that biblical poetry is full of puns. That is true, but not the whole truth. The truth is that a great deal of the bible is full of puns and clever word games, even the bits that are supposed to be historical. That's one of the things that makes it unreasonable to take it all at face value. Esther is chock full of that kind of stuff.

That said, here is some pertinent information that may help you parse out some of the word play that is going on in the biblical descriptions of Mordecai and Haman: Once upon a time, supposedly at least 500 years before the events in Esther, in Numbers 24, Balaam prophesied the downfall of Agag and the Amalekites. He said the king of Israel would be greater and more exalted than Agag, whose name just happens to mean "high." (reread above paragraph about Haman)According  to I Samuel and 1 Chronicles, there was a man of the tribe of Benjamin named Kish. He was the father of the man who would become Israel's first king, Saul. In I Samuel 15, Saul  fought Agag, king of the Amalekites, and won. He did not immediately kill Agag, though he had supposedly completely destroyed the Amalekites, as god had commanded. (God hated the pesky Amalekites) Even though Saul eventually killed Agag, his initial hesitation contributed to his eventual downfall. In 2 Samuel 1:8, Saul was killed at his own request, by an Amalekite. (The Amalekites should have all been dead, right?) Weirdly, David also fought Amalekites in I Samuel 30. In I Chronicles 4:43, some Simeonites ( a tribe of Israel) are said to have wiped out the last of the Amalekites.