The Making of the Other: The Hellenistic Jewish Construction of the Persian King in 5:1–12 of the Greek Alpha-Text of Esther
Esther - Kristin Joachimsen
Lydia Lee [+]
Zhejiang University
Ji Xiaowei [+]
Fudan University
Description
The tremendous influence of Hellenic language, literature, philosophy, historiography, and even religion on Jewish self-perception from Alexander the Great’s time in the fourth century BCE to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE has been widely acknowledged. However, as Erich Gruen rightly points out, little attention has been paid to a related but quite distinct issue: How did Jews in the Hellenistic world perceive non-Jewish people, nations, and societies? To explore this issue, we will analyze the depiction of the Persian king in Greek Alpha-Text (AT) of Esther 5:1–12, comparing it with Hebrew Masoretic Esther 5:1–2 and Old Greek Esther Addition D. This analysis will show that the Jewish redactor of the AT not only adopted and emulated the Greco-Roman stereotypical view of Persian kings but also adapted it in a new way to address specific concerns related to the Jewish-Alexanadrian conflict in 37–41 CE.