The Date of Purim and Calendars in the Book of Esther

7/31/2019 The Date of Purim and Calendars in the Book of Esther

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Astronomy

And cosmology in

folk trAditions

And culturAl

heritAge

Edited by Jonas Vaiknas

ArchAeologiA

BALTICA10

Klaipda University Press


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KLAIPDA UNIVERSITY

institute of BAltic seA region

history And ArchAeology

lithuAniAn institute of history

A

rchAeolog

iA

BAL

TICA

10

Klaipda, 2008

Edited by Jonas Vaiknas

Astronomy

And cosmology

in folk trAditions

And culturAl

heritAge


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UDK 902/904Ar 46

Volume 10 Editorial Board

Editor in Chief

Prof. Habil. Dr Vladas ulkus (Klaipda University, Lithuania)

Deputy Editor in ChiefHabil. Dr Algirdas Girininkas (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History andArchaeology, Lithuania)

MembersProf. Dr Claus von Carnap-Bornheim (Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseum;Archlogisches Landesmuseum Schlo Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany)Prof. Dr Jan Bemmann (Institut fr Vor- und Frhgeschichte, ArchologieRheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt, Bonn, Germany)Dr Anna Bitner-Wrblewska (State Archaeological Museum in Warszawa, Poland)Dr Audron Bliujien (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)Prof. Dr (HP) Rimantas Jankauskas (Vilnius University, Lithuania)Dr John Hines (Cardiff University, United Kingdom)Dr Romas Jarockis (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)Docent Dr Jan Peder Lamm (Liding, Sweden)Prof. Dr Ulla Lund Hansen (Copenhagen University, Denmark)Prof. Dr Magdalena Mczyska (Institute of Archaeology, University of dz, Poland)Dr Vykintas Vaitkeviius (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)Prof. Habil. Dr Andrejs Vasks (University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia)

Prof. Habil. Dr Arnold Lebeuf (Jagiellonian University, Institute for the History of Religions, Cracow, Poland)Prof. Dr Roslyn M. Frank (University of Iowa, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, USA)Prof. Dr Clive Ruggles (University of Leicester, United Kingdom)M. Sc. Jonas Vaiknas (Museum of Moltai district, Lithuania; Jagiellonian University, Institute for the Historyof Religions, Cracow, Poland)

Dr Vykintas Vaitkeviius (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archeology, Lithuania)

Editorial Assistant

Jurgita ukauskait (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)

Articles appearing in this journal are peer-reviewed by either internal or external reviewers.

Editor of the volume: Jonas VaiknasEnglish language editor: Clive RugglesLithuanian language editor: Roma NikentaitienSummaries in Lithuanian translated by: Audron Bliujien, Algis Girininkas, Jonas Marozas, Jonas Vaiknas,Vykintas Vaitkeviius, Jurgita ukauskaitDesign: Algis KlieviiusLayout by: Lolita Zemlien

Archaeologia Baltica volume 10 was prepared by Klaipda University Institute of Baltic Sea Region History andArchaeology and Museum of Moltai district

Published with a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of The Republic of Lithuania

Klaipda University Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, 2008 Lithuanian Institute of History, 2008 Article authors, 2008 Klaipda University Press, 2008

ISSN 1392-5520


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10CONTENTS

Preface 8

List of contributors 12

Juan Antonio Belmonte. Second Parts can always be better! 18

Stephen C. McCluskey. Conference summary: a historians perspective 19

I . ASTRONOMICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL

KNOWLEDGE IN THE F OLK CULTURE

Alejandro Martn Lpez, Sixto Gimnez Bentez.

The Milky Way and its structuring functions in the worldview

of the Mocov of Gran Chaco 21

Cecilia Paula Gmez. Venus and the Star Woman 25

Tsimafei Avilin. Astronyms in Belarussian folk beliefs 29

Dzmitry Kanaplianikau. Traditional astronomical knowledge

in the world-view of Belarussians in 1994-2005 35

Irena Pundure. A solar calendar from Latvian dainas 39

I I . ASTRONOMICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL

KNOWLEDGE IN MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION

Krzysztof Jakubiak, Arkadiusz Sotysiak. Mesopotamian inuences

on Persian sky-watching and calendars. Part II. Ishtar and Anahita 45

Arkadiusz Sotysiak. The birthday of Asakku 52

Noemi Miranda, Juan A. Belmonte, Miguel Angel Molinero. Uncovering

Seshat: new insights into the stretching of the cord ceremony 57

I I I . ASTRONOMICAL AND ETHNOCOSMOLOGICAL

INTERPRETATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL

AND ETHNOLOGICAL ARTEFACTS

Michael A. Rappenglck. Tracing the celestial deer - an ancient motif and

its astronomical interpretation across cultures 62

Antonio Csar Gonzlez Garca, Marco V. Garca Quintela,

Juan Antonio Belmonte, Manuel Santos Estvez.

Calendrical deer, time-reckoning and landscape

in Iron-Age North-West Spain 66

Dainius Razauskas, Vykintas Vaitkeviius.

The mythological Moon horse as reected

in Baltic archaeology, folklore and linguistics 71


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6

Conten

ts

Vytautas Tumnas. The visual and the mythical-poetic interpretations

of sky luminaries in Lithuanian traditional textiles 78

Jonas Vaiknas. Some peripheral forms of the Mediterranean

and oriental zodiac traditions in heathen Lithuania 86

IV. ASTRONOMICAL AND COSM OLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

IN HISTORICAL SOURC ES AND LITERATURE

Vito Francesco Polcaro, Andrea Martocchia.

Were the 185 a.d. and 369 a.d. guest stars seen in Rome? 94

Flavia Pedroza Lima, Silvia F. de M. Figueira. Indigenous astronomical

traditions as related by the rst ethnologists in Brazil 99

Gran Henriksson. A new attempt to date the Xia, Shang

and western Zhou dynasties by solar eclipses 105

Antonella Ghignoli, Andrea Martocchia, Vito Francesco Polcaro.

Eleventh-century supernovae:

another way to read the medieval sources? 110

Helen Jacobus. The date of Purim and calendars in the Book of Esther 114

Arnold Lebeuf. LAbb Jean Lebeuf, (1687-1760), a forgotten precursor

of archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy 119

V. REFLECTI ONS OF ASTRONOMICAL

AND COSMOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

IN MONUMENTS, LANDSCAPES AND ARCHITECTURE

Gran Henriksson, Mary Blomberg. Orientations at the Minoan peak

sanctuary on Philioremos near Gonies (Maleviziou), Crete 125

Gregory E. Munson, Bryan C. Bates, Larry V. Nordby.

Reading, writing, and recording the architecture: how astronomical

cycles may be reected in the architectural construction

at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA 131

David W. Pankenier, Ciyuan Y. Liu, Salvo De Meis.

The Xiangfen, Taosi Site: a Chinese neolithic observatory? 141

Giulio Magli. On the origin of the Romanidea of town:

geometrical and astronomical references 149

Arnold Lebeuf. The nuraghic well of Santa Cristina, Paulilatino,

Oristano, Sardinia. A verication of the astronomical hypothesis:

work in process, preliminary results 155

Andrei Prokhorov. Images on the stones at Scebiaraky village

in North-West Belarus 163

Antonio Csar Gonzlez Garca, Vesselina Koleva, Dimitar Kolev,

Juan Antonio Belmonte.

Thracian dolmens and their orientations 170

JohanMcKim Malville, Michael Zawaski, Steven Gullberg.

Cosmological motifs of Peruvian huacas 175


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10Marcello Ranieri. A geometrical analysis of Mesoamerican pre-hispanic

architecture: squaring triads, numbers, length units and the calendar 183

Lucilla Labianca, Ida Sciortino, Silvia Gaudenzi, Andrea Patan,

Vito Francesco Polcaro, Marcello Ranieri.

An archaeoastronomical study of the Neo-Pythagorean Basilica

at Porta Maggiore in Rome 195

Rimvydas Lauikas. Some cosmological aspects of Catholic churches

in Lithuania 200

Katalin Barlai. Basatanya revisited: two periods of a Copper Age cemetery

in the Carpathian Basin 207

Marcello Ranieri. The pythagorean geometry of the Atreus tomb

at Mycenae 211

Florin Stanescu. Measurement systems for mathematics and astronomy

in antiquity. Ptolemys chord calculation and new considerations

concerning the discus in planitia ascribed to Aristarchus. Part I 215

VI. LANDSCA PE ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

Lionel Sims. Integrating archaeoastronomy with landscape archaeology:

Silbury Hill a case study 220

Juan Antonio Belmonte, Antonio Csar Gonzlez Garca,

Mosalam Shaltout, Magdi Fekri, Noemi Miranda.

From Umm al Qab to Biban al Muluk: the orientation

of royal tombs in ancient Egypt 226

Fernando Pimenta, Lus Tirapicos.

The orientations of central Alentejo megalithic enclosures 234

Sacha Stephens. Cardinal and lunisolar alignments as alignmentsof gender and of power 241

Ray P. Norris. Searching for the astronomy of aboriginal Australians 246

VII . ARCHAEOLOGY, FOLK LORE AND THE R ECOVERY OF PAST

ASTRONOMIES

Stanisaw Iwaniszewski. Alternative archaeoastronomies an overview 253

John Morieson. The case study of the Boorong 258

Stephen C. McCluskey. Nationalism and politics in the recovery

of past astronomies 263

VIII . NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODS

IN C ULTURAL ASTRONOMY

Barbara Rappenglck. Cosmic catastrophes and cultural disasters

in prehistoric times? The chances and limitations of a verication 268

In Memoriam: Izold Pustylnik (17 March 1938 2 May 2008) 273

Plates (I VIII)

Guidelines for authors


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HELEN

JACOBUS

TheDateofPurima

nd

Calend

arsin

theBook

of

Esther

In t roduct ion

The Masoretic Text (the canonised Hebrew Bible: ab-

breviation: MT) of the Book of Esther is, according to

some opinions, dated to between the early Hellenistic

and late Persian period, in the 5th century BCE, and

between 167 BCE to 135 BCE for its nal edit (Moore1992; Clines 1984; Frohlich 1996). One of the char-

acteristics of the Book of Esther is that there is a very

clear chronology and an emphasis on the use of dates. I

suggest that there is a reference to calendars which the

reader is being invited to unravel.

The Es ther Story

The Book opens with the information that King Ahas-

ureus celebrated his kingship in the third year of his

reign with a 180-day celebration and feast for all the

noblemen of his 127 provinces. After that period he

held another banquet for all the people of his citadel,

Shushan (Susa) (Esth 1: 2-5). On the 7th day, the king

summoned his queen, Vashti, to appear before the peo-

ple and the noblemen wearing her crown, in order to

display her beauty. Vashti refused, and the king asked

his astrologers the wise men, knowers of the times

(Esth1:13) for their advice. They told him that he had to

issue an edict throughout his all satrapies that all wives

must obey their husbands, and to conduct a search for

a beautiful young virgin to be queen instead of Vashti

(Esth 1:16-2:4). This was done, and after an empire-

wide beauty contest, Esther, the niece of Mordechai,

a Jewish subject, was taken to the king. He made her

his queen, but Mordechai instructed Esther to keep her

Jewish identity secret. The king promoted one of his

nobles, Haman, above all others. Haman ruled that all

the royal ofcials should kneel down to him and pay

him honour, but Mordechai refused. Haman planned to

wipe out all the Jews throughout the Persian empire in

response to Mordechais disrespect towards him (Esth3:1-6). In the 12th year of the reign of the king, lots,

called pur, were cast before Haman to select a date

when the extermination should take place. The lots

were cast in the rst month, Nisan, from day to dayand from month [to month] until the 12th month, Adar

(Esth 3:7). On the 13th day of the rst month an edictwas despatched throughout the 127 provinces that on

one day, on the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the

month of Adar, all the Jews were to be annihilated

(Esth 3: 12-13). Esther, her maids, Mordechai and the

Jews of Shushan fasted and prayed for three days.

Esther then had an audience with the king in which

she requested that he and Haman attend a banquet that

shed prepared. At that feast she requested that she and

her people be spared. As the king had no idea that Es-

ther was Jewish and therefore that she and her people

had been the objects of his edict to slaughter the Jews,

Haman was hanged (Esth 7:1-10). On the 23rd day of

the 3rd month, Sivan, a second command in the name of

the king, this time written by Esther, went out to all the

127 provinces giving the Jews permission to defend

themselves on the 13th day of the 12th month, Adar,

when the rst order would come into force, as no edictfrom the king ever could be revoked (Esth 8: 7,9,12).

In chapter 9, the nal chapter, we read that, On the12th month which is Adar on the 13th day of it, the

day of destruction instigated by Haman, battle com-

menced (Esth 9: 1-12). Then, after the Jews killed a

great number of their enemies in the Persian empire

and in Shushan, Esther asked King Ahasuerus to grant

permission to the Jews in Shushan only to carry out the

second edict tomorrow, (Hebrew: machar) as well.

Also, for Hamans 10 sons to be hanged on the same

day (Esth 9:12-13). The Jews of Shushan then gathered

themselves on the 14th day of the month of Adar and

THE DATE OF PURIM AND CALENDARSIN THE BOOK OF ESTHER

HELEN JACOBUS

Abstract

The paper suggests that The Book of Esther contains astronomical and chronological information associated with the reign

of Artaxerxes II. It further investigates a play on dates concerning an intercalary 12 th Hebrew month and the eve of Passover,

and possible mathematical references to Ancient Near Eastern and Jewish calendars.

Key words: Esther, calendars, astronomy, Artaxerxes, Bible, Adar, Jewish, Babylonian.


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IV

IV. ASTRO-NO MICAL ANDCOSMOLOGICALKNOWLEDGEIN HISTORICALSOURCES ANDLITERATURE

killed 300 men (Esth 9:15) while the Jews in the prov-

inces stood for their lives, had rest from their enemies

and slew 75,000 men (Esth 9:16). On the 13th day

of the month of Adar the Jews in the provinces had

rest and on the 14th of it they made a day of drinking

and celebration (Esth 9:17). And the Jews in Shushan

assembled on the 13th of it, and on the 14th of it

they rested, and on the 15th of it they made a day of

drinking and celebration (Esth 9:18).

Textual ambiguities

In Hebrew, macharmeaning tomorrow or the next

day also means the time to come, (Brown et al

2001), as it does in English, for example, Isa 22:13:

Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. There is,thus, an ambiguity in the text as it is possible that this

extra day (tomorrow) (Esth 9:13) for the Jews of

Shushan was in the following month, and that the 12th

month, was to be intercalated. In chapter 3, thepur

was cast before Haman throughout the 12th year of the

kings reign, from month to month from Nisan to the12th month, Adar (Esth 3:7). Therefore, the command

to annihilate the Jews issued on the 13 th day of the rstmonth (Esth 3:12), must have taken place in the 13 th

year of the kings reign. If the day of reckoning, at Es-

thers request in chapter 9, was the 13th day of the 13th

month in the 13th year of the kings reign, the cursed

date divined by Hamanspurin chapter 3, the 13th of

the 12th month, Adar (Esth 3:13), was transformed into

a lucky date: a line-up of all the 13s, resulting in politi-

cal and military success (Esth 9: 17, 18).

There are different ways of reading the text. The Jews

of Shushan are described as assembling and slaying

300 men on the 14th of Adar (Esth 9: 15), which is as-

sumed to be their extra day in Adar, although it has no

month number (while everyone else could only ghton the 13 th of Adar, which is Month 12). The Sushan

Jews also assembed on the 13th of it (Esth 9:18), a

date with neither month name nor number. However,

the assembly on the 13th of it, may be the extra day:

that is, the 13th of the second Adar (Adar II). If the

Jews in the provinces assembled and slayed on the 13th

of the 12th month, Adar, (Esth 9:1), yet also rested on

the 13th of Adar, without a month number (Esth 9:17),

that would be Adar II. In that case, only the Jews of

Shushan were ghting on the 13 th of Adar II. The fol-lowing day, the 14th of Adar II, the Jews of Shushan

would be resting after the battle, while the Jews in the

provinces, who did not have an intercalary Adar, were

preparing for Passover on Nisan 14, Passover eve. Inaccordance with the Talmud (Megilla 6:2), Purim, the

festival which celebrates this book on Adar 14 (Esth

9:21) is, in an intercalated year, celebrated in Adar II.

This suggests that the alternative reading may have

some foundation.

Mythology

According to Julius Lewy (1939), Artaxerexes II is the

strongest candidate for the character of Ahasuerus. Heargues that Esth 3-9 is based on the threat felt by the

Babylonian worshippers of Marduk, the literal mean-

ing of the name Mordechai, by the introduction of

Mithras and Anahita into the Zoroastrian pantheon of

deities during the reign of Artaxerxes II. Marduk is as-

sociated with Jupiter (Van Der Waerden 1949). Jupitertranslated into Hebrew, is tsedek, meaning the Right-

eous One. David Clines (1992) dismisses any linkage

between Mordechai and Marduk, though Paton (1976)

noted: These similarities of names are certainly strik-

ing and can hardly be accidental. Talmudic Jewish

literature connects Esther to the planet Venus (Meg-

illa 13a). In the Septuagint (the Greek translation ofthe Hebrew Bible, abbreviation: LXX) Esth 2: 7 reads:Her name was called after the bright star in Greek,Astra.

Archaeoas t ronomy

Co-incidentally, in the Babylonian Astronomical Dia-

ries, a fragment of a short diary assigned a 13 th month,

[an intercalary Month 12] in year 13 of a King Artax-

erxes. Abraham Sachs (Sachs et al 1988) stated thathe tentatively assigned it [the fragment] to Artaxerxes

II [ruled - 404 to -358] on the basis that it indicated

that Month 12 had 29 days. According to Parker Dub-

berstein this ts only Artaxerxes II Other evidence isthe full appearance of Saturn in year 13 of Artaxerxes

II. No such appearances are available in year 13 of Ar-taxerxes III [-359 to -338] and year 13 of Artaxerxes I

[-464-424].

Computing for 13 Adar II in the 13th year of the reign

of Artaxerxes II: March 12, 391 Julian calendar [13

Adar II 3369]), offers arguable astrological testimony

in support of a celestial conguration that could havecontributed to the symbolism of the characters in the

story (although, all such interpretation is by its nature

subjective, and non-scientic). Venus was the eveningstar, setting when Jupiter was rising just ahead of the

full moon in Virgo (sun in Pisces). 1 The full Saturn

1 On March 12 -391 Julian calendar: computed for 6pm (for

Babylon) as the day begins at sunset. Purim falls on 14th

Adar which is mid-month (February-March). The full

moon: 20 Virgo, sun: 17 Pisces, Venus 24 Aries (37

behind the sun), Jupiter: 12 Virgo. At sunset, the date

changed to Adar 14, Purim.


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HELEN

JACOBUS

TheDateofPurima

nd

Calend

arsin

theBook

of

Esther

would have been seen before sunrise, when the moon

and Jupiter were setting. At Purim, the full moon is al-

ways in Virgo, the zodiac sign possibly represented by

Queen Esther, the Kings favourite virgin (Esth 2: 17).

(The term betulah meaning virgin, and Virgo, also oc-

curs in Esth 2:2, 3, 19).

The question as to whether a month could be inter-calated for divination purposes to avoid a bad omen

or prediction, turns out to have been a well-attested

practice, recorded in earlier texts from Babylon. A.L.Oppenheim(1974) describes the craft of intercalation

to avoid any malec astronomical portents (Swerdlow1998; Brown 2000; Williams 2002). Brown also arguesthat the Old Babylonian record of intercalary months

suggests that some of the months were added for con-

cerns other than keeping the moon on track with the

sun. Possibly, he suggests, royal whim. He observes

that there is also evidence to suggest that intercalation

could take place without the general population using

it, therefore, possibly, not even knowing about it.

In another text, a report sent by a Balasi to the Assyr-

ian King, there is a request for an intercalation, in part,

because not to do so would be unlucky: Let them in-tercalate a month; all the stars of the sky have fallen

behind. Adar must not pass unfavourably; let them

intercalate! (Hunger 1992; Williams 2002). In otherwords, a 13th month (the second Adar) could be seen as

lucky by itself, or more likely, the king was persuaded

to avert a prediction of evil, which he would be told

would occur if the calendar was not kept in check.

According to M.E. Cohen (1993) during the Achae-

menid period, directives for intercalation came from

priestly ofcials, whereas during the Babylonian periodthey came from the king. However, in Esther, reference

is specically made to the kings astronomer-astrolo-gers (wise men, knowers of the times, Esth 1:13). It

is an open question, according to our theory, whether

Esther requested an intercalary month, according to the

Babylonian model, or if she knew that Adar was to be

intercalated.

The logical implication is that Ahasuerus may havebeen agreeing to Esthers request for an intercalary

month (the royal whim, for him, the line-up of lucky

13s for her) and that that would have been what the

astronomer-astrologers, or the priests would have sug-

gested he should do for good calendrical reasons, so that

Adar did not, indeed, pass unfavourably. Furthermore,

if intercalation could occur without people knowing

about it, it would be possible that the Jews in Shushan

could ght on the 14th of a month with no name (Esth9: 18), aware of the intercalation, while Jews in the rest

of the country were preparing for Passover, unaware of

it. Such a scenario is in keeping with the many farce

elements in the narrative.

The Achaemenid k ings

and in terca la t ion

An examination of the intercalation tables compiledby Britton (2002, 2007) reveals that the 13th year of

the reigns of all the Achaemenid kings from the late 6 th

century BCE after Cambyses II had an intercalated 12th

month (XII2). In the chart below, the 13th year from the

accession of the kings from Darius to Artaxerxes III,

who ruled for longer than 13 years, has been calculated

from Brittons data. The fourth column shows that all

of them had an intercalary 12th month in that year.

King Accession

Year

13th Year I nter calar y

monthDarius I -521 -508 XII

2

Xerxes -486 -473 XII2

Artaxerxes I -464 -451 XII2

Darius II -423 -410 XII2

Artaxerxes II -404 -391 XII2

Artaxerxes III -358 -345 XII2

Britton shows that the 19-year intercalation cycle in

which seven years are intercalated every two or three

years, began to be standardised in the 6th century BCE.

From Xerxes reign, the19-year cycle always began

with an intercalated sixth month, a second Ululu (He-brew month: Elul), a practice which continued into the

Seleucid era. The exception was during the reign of Ar-

taxerxes I, during whose rule no second Ululu appeared

at all (in his reign the rst years of the 19-year cyclehad an intercalary Adar, instead). This was possibly

because, Britton suggests, Artaxerxes Is predecessor

(Xerxes I) was murdered during an intercalary Ululu.2That temporary calendar change echoes the idea that

the intercalary month may have carried superstitious

associations.

Brittons arrangement of the 19-year cycle is as fol-

lows:

1,** 2, 3,* 4, 5, 6,* 7, 8, 9,* 10, 11,* 12, 13, 14,* 15,

16, 17,* 18, 19

** Second Ululu (except during reign of Artaxerxes I)

* Second Adar

2

Xerxes was murdered between 4-8 August 465 (Lewis1992).


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IV. ASTRO-NO MICAL ANDCOSMOLOGICALKNOWLEDGEIN HISTORICALSOURCES ANDLITERATURE

Of interest, is the fact that Otto Neugebauer (1955)placed the second Ululu in year 18 of the cycle (not at

the beginning of the 19-year cycle, as does Britton), so,

according to Neugebauer, the seven intercalary years,had a different order:

1,* 2, 3, 4,* 5, 6, 7,* 8, 9,*10, 11, 12,* 13, 14, 15,* 16,

17, 18,** 19

Neither arrangement has an intercalary 13th month. Yet,can it be chance that Darius I, Xerxes, Artaxerxes I,Darius II, Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III all had a 13th

month in the 13th year of their reigns? It could be that

the accession list was so-arranged in order for those

regnal years to coincide with an intercalary Adar.

Esthers ca lendars

Finally, we have taken the number 127, the number

of satraps in the empire,3 and found that key dates arejoined together by spaces of 127 days, if we use differ-

ent calendars and intercalations. The calendars are: 1)

the 360-day calendar4 with an intercalary Ululu/Elul;

2) the 360-day calendar without an intercalation; 3) the

354-day calendar with an intercalary Adar; 4) the 354-

day calendar without an intercalation. The dates 127

days apart also reect the way different Jewish groupsin late antiquity counted the days in the Jewish festi-

val calendar (Talmon 2001), as well as the different

kinds of calendars themselves. The biblical festivals I

suggest, are: the 1st, 15th and 22nd day of the seventh

month, Tishri these are Rosh Hashanah, Tabernacles

and the 8th day of Tabernacles (the Rejoicing of the

Law) and the different dates of the biblical festival ofFirst Fruits, or Weeks, in the third month, Sivan (Talm-on, ibid). 5 As the nal editing of the Book of Estheris believed to have taken place in the second century

BCE, it is possible that Esther could play with the va-

riety of calendars that were known in the Ancient NearEast and in Judasim, as well as reference the differ-

ences in calendar-keeping among the Jewish groups.

3

Esth 1.1; 8:9; 9:30; and LXX: Esth Add: 13:1; 16:1.4 The 360-day year, known from the MUL.APIN was usedan ideal, administrative year and for astronomical calcu-

lations from the 3rd millennium BCE and was known in

late antiquity. It had 12 months of 30 days each, and was

the basis of our 360 circle and the zodiac wheel (Brack-

Bernsen 2005; Britton 2007; Britton and Walker 1996).The question of its intercalation is a matter of scholarly

discussion and debate, not analysed here. Our focus has

been on calendars 3) and 4).5 The date for the festival of First Fruits in the 364-day

xed calendar in the Dead Sea Scrolls is Sivan 15. In thePharisees 354-day luni-solar calendar it is Sivan 6. The

different dates are, in part, due to different interpretations

of the meaning of the phrase the day after the Sabbath(mi-machorat haShabbat) in Leviticus 23:15-16.

The suggested calendars in the Book of Esther, then,

are as follows:

1.Sivan 23 to Tishri 1 using a second Ululu/ Elul in

the 360-day calendar :

Calculation: 7 days (remainder of Sivan) + 30 days(Tammuz) + 30 days (Av) + 30 days ( Ululu/ Elul

1) +

30 days (Ululu/Elul2) = 127 days

2. Sivan 15 to Tishri 22 in the 360-day calendar :

That is, 15 days (remainder of Sivan) + 30 days (Tam-

muz) + 30 days (Av) + 30 days (Ululu/Elul) + 22 days

(in Tishri) = 127

3. Adar I 14 to Sivan 23 using an intercalary Adar in

the 354-day calendar :

That is, 16 days (remainder of days in Adar I) + 29

days (Adar II) + 30 days (Nisan) + 29 days (Iyyar) +23 days (in Sivan) = 127 days.

4. Sivan 6 to Tishri 15 in the 354-day calendar :

That is, 24 days (remainder of days in Sivan) + 29 days

(Tammuz) + 30 days (Av) + 29 days (Elul) + 15 days

(in Tishri) = 127 days.

Re f e r ences and Se l ec t B i b l i og r aphy

BRACK-BERNSEN, L., 2005. The days in excess fromMUL.APIN: On the rst intercalation and water clockschemes from MUL.APIN. Centaurus, 47(1), 1-29.

BRACK-BERNSEN, L., 2007. The 360-Day Year in Mes-opotamia. In: J. M. STEELE, ed. Calendars and Years:

Astronomy and Time in the Ancient Near East . Oxford:

Oxbow Books, 83-100.

BRITTON, J., WALKER, C., 1996. Astronomy and Astrol-ogy in Mesopotamia. In: C.Walker,ed.Astronomy Beforethe Telescope. New York: St Martins Press, 46.

BRITTON, J., 2002. Treatments of Annual Phenomena in Cu-neiform Sources. In: J. M. STEELE and A. IMHAUSEN,eds. Under One Sky: Astronomy and Mathematics in the

Ancient Near East., Munster: Ugarit-Verlag, 33, 36.BRITTON, J., 2007. Calendars, Intercalations and Year-

Lengths in Mesopotamian Astronomy. In: J. M. STEELE,ed. Calendars and Years: Astronomy and Time in the An-

cient Near East. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 122-123.

BROWN, D., 2000. Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-Astrology. Groningen: Styx Publications, 121-122, 195,196.

BROWN, F., DRIVER, S.R., BRIGGS, C.A., 2001. TheBrown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Pea-

body MA: Hendrickson, 563.

CLINES, D. J. A., 1984. The Esther Scroll: The Story of theStory. JSOT Supplement Series 30. Shefeld, 39-63.


13/13

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nd

Calend

arsin

theBook

of

Esther

CLINES, D J A., 1992. Mordechai.In: D. N. FREEDMAN,ed.Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 4, New York: Double-day, 903.

COHEN, M. E., 1993. The Cultic Calendars of the AncientNear East, Bethesda, NY: CDL Press, 6.

FROHLICH, I., 1996. Time and Times and a Half: HistoricalConsciousness in the Jewish Literature of the Persian and

Hellenistic Eras. Edinburgh: T & T Clark International,

144-145.GREENFIELD, J. C., NAVEH J., 1984. Hebrew and Ara-

maic in the Persian Period. In: W.D.DAVIES and L. FIN-KELSTEIN,ed. The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol 1:Introduction; The Persian Period. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 119-121 (115-129).

HUNGER, H., 1992.Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings,Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 57, lines 8-10.

LEWIS, D. M., 1992. Chronological Table. In: D.M. LEWIS,J.BOARDMAN, et al, eds. The Cambridge Ancient His-tory, 2ndEdition, Volume V: Fifth Century B.C. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 13, 506-513.

LEWY, J., 1939. The Feast of the 14 th Day of Adar.HebrewUnion College Annual, 14, 127-151.

MOORE, C. A., 1992. Esther. In: D. N. FREEDMAN, ed.Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 2, New York: Doubleday,640-641.

NEUGEBAUER, O., ed., 1955, reprint 1982, AstronomicalCuneiform Texts. New York: Springer-Verlag, 33.

OPPENHEIM, A. L., 1974. A Babylonian Diviners Manual.Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 33(2), 197-220.

PATON, L.B., 1976 (reprint). The Book of Esther (S.R.DRIVER, A.PLUMMER, C. A. BRIGGS, eds. Inter-national Critical Commentary Series). Edinburgh: T & T

Clark International, 88-94 (89).

REGEV, E., 2006. The Sadduccees, the Pharisees, and theSacred: Meaning and Ideology in the Halakhic Controver-

sies between the Sadduccees and Pharisees 2006. Review

of Rabbinic Judaism, 9, 126-140.REIDER, J., 1949. A New Ishtar Epithet in the Bible.Journal

of Near Eastern Studies, 8(2), 105-107.

SACHS, A. J., HERMANN H., 1988. Astronomical Diariesand Related Texts from Babylonia. Vol. I. Vienna: Verlag

der Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 69.SUITER, D. E., 1992. Artaxerxes. In: D.N. FREEDMAN,

ed.Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 1. New York: Double-day, 463-464.

SWERDLOW, N.M., 1998. The Babylonian Theory of thePlanets. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 8.

TALMON, S., 2001. Introduction. In:S.TALMON, J.BEN-DOV, U.GLESSMER, eds. Discoveries in the Judaean

Desert XXI: Qumran Cave IV (XVI): Calendrical Texts.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 5-6.

VAN DER WAERDEN, B.L., 1949. Babylonian Astronomy,II. The Thirty-Six Stars.Journal of Near Eastern Studies,

8, 6-36 (12).

WILLIAMS, C., 2002. Signs from the Sky, Signs from theEarth: The Diviners Manual Revisited.In: J. M. STEELEand A.IMHAUSEN, eds. Under One Sky: Astronomy and

Mathematics in the Ancient Near East. Munster: Ugarit-

Verlag, 484.

Online calendar converter programme http://www.fourmilab.

ch/documents/calendar/

(uses minus signs for BCE) and the Swiss Ephemeris on-

line zodiac programme http://www.astro.com/swisseph/

swepha_e.htm . For -391 (392 BCE): (http://www.astro.

com/swisseph/ae/m0300/ae_m0391.pdf and go to March).

Received: 25 January 2008; Revised: 26 November 2008

PURIM VENTS DATAIR KALENDORIAI ESTEROSKNYGOJE

Helen Jacobus

San t rau k a

Straipsnyje keliama prielaida, kad Esteros knygoje sly-pi astronomin ir chronologin informacija, susijusi supers karaliaus Artakserkso II viepatavimu. Nagrin-jamas hebraj kalendoriaus 12-ojo mnesio interkalia-cijos ir yd Velyk ivakari klausimas bei galimosEsteros knygoje aptinkam chronologini ini ssa-

jos su Senovs Artimj Ryt ir yd kalendoriais.

Vert Jonas Vaiknas

The Date of Purim and Calendars in the Book of Esther

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