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Jewish Series: Purim
History of Purim
The Story of Esther
Purim, or “lots,” is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation during the Achaemenid Empire, around five centuries before Christ, as recounted in the Old Testament Book of Esther.
This was during the reign of the Persian King Ahasuerus. It is celebrated today as a Jewish feast day on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar. This year, Purim begins at sundown on March 13.
What was the Achaemenid Empire?
Otherwise known as the First Persian Empire, it was founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 B.C. in what is now modern Iran.
There had never been a larger empire before this time; it covered over two million square miles, from Egypt and the Balkans in the west to modern-day Pakistan and the Indus Valley in the southeast, with West Asia at its center and most of Central Asia in the northeast.
Who Was Cyrus?
Cyrus of Persia had conquered the previous Median Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Lydia (modern-day Turkey.) His…
