The Persian Esther “Midrash”

Abstract

This chapter argues that there are particularly “Persian” interpretations of, and ideas about, Esther (and other, related, biblical books more generally) that are at odds with “Western” ideas on the subject. The chapter examines the entries on “Haman” and “Haman-Suz” (“the burning of Haman”) in a highly influential, twentieth-century Persian dictionary, where it is stated that Haman and Abraham were brothers. While it would appear that this statement is a mere error, it is shown that Jews and Muslims in Persia, from ancient to modern times, understood Esther, Haman, Abraham, and the latter’s brother Haran, in ways that make a sibling relationship between Abraham and Haman entirely feasible. That these sources are culturally “Persian” yet cross confessional boundaries, raises the possibility that there was a particularly “Persian” midrashic tradition.