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ESTHER
AND
MORDECHAI,
a
Jewish
shrine
in
the
city
of
Hamada@n,
where,
according
to
Judeo-Persian
tradition,
Esther
and
Mordechai
are
buried.
This
tradition
is
not
supported
by
the
Jews
outside
of
Persia
and
does
not
appear
in
either
Babylonian
or
Jerusalemite
Talmuds.
The
earliest
Jewish
source
on
the
tombs
is
Benjamin
of
Tudela,
who
visited
Hamada@n
in
the
year
1067.
According
to
him,
there
were
50,000
Jews
living
in
Hamada@n,
where
Esther
and
Mordechai
were
buried
in
front
of
a
synagogue.
ˆa@h^n,
the
earliest
Judeo-Persian
source
on
this
tradition,
describes
the
dreams
of
Esther
and
Mordechai
and
their
departure
to
Hamada@n,
where
they
died
inside
the
synagogue,
first
Mordechai,
and
then
Esther,
an
hour
later
(Bacher,
1908b,
pp.
70-71).
ˆa@h^n's
account
is
perhaps
based
on
some
lost
Judeo-Persian
sources.
We
have
more
detailed
descriptions
by
the
19th
and
20th
century
authors.
Israel
ben
Joseph,
known
as
the
Second
Benjamin,
who
visited
Hamada@n
in
1850,
reported
that
the
tombs,
separated
from
each
other
by
a
narrow
path,
were
in
a
room
in
a
magnificent
building
located
inside
the
city
close
to
a
city
walls.
According
to
him,
the
Jews
came
here
to
pray
once
a
month.
In
the
feast
of
Purim
(14th
of
Adar)
they
read
the
Book
of
Esther
and
from
time
to
time
hit
the
tombs
with
the
palms
of
their
hands.
He
estimated
the
number
of
the
Jews
in
Hamada@n
as
about
500
families
who
owned
three
synagogues.
Yehiel
Fischel
Castelman,
a
Galician
Jew
from
Safed,
visited
Hamada@n
in
1860.
He
praised
the
economic
situation
of
the
Jews
of
Hamada@n
and
described
the
edifice
and
the
tombs
as
magnificent.
He
reported
that,
according
to
the
local
Jews,
it
was
"built
by
Cyrus
the
son
of
Esther,"
and
that
the
date
was
written
on
the
top
of
the
dome.
He,
however,
"could
not
climb
to
read
it."
Jakob
Pollak,
Na@sáer-al-D^n
Shah's
physician
and
professor
of
anatomy
in
Da@r
al-Fonu@n
(1855-60),
mentions
the
tombs
as
the
only
national
holy
place
that
the
Jews
of
Persia
possessed
and
made
pilgrimage
to.
He
said
they
were
situated
in
the
center
of
the
Jewish
quarter
inside
a
thirty-foot
high
domed
building.
The
entrance
was
through
a
low
and
narrow
opening
and
could
be
shut
by
a
doorlike
stone.
The
first
room
had
a
low
ceiling
and
on
its
walls
were
engraved
the
names
of
the
visitors.
In
a
nearby
smaller
room
were
two
coffins
made
of
oak,
set
two
feet
apart,
on
which
were
written
the
last
passages
of
the
book
of
Esther,
the
names
of
three
physicians
who
had
donated
money
for
the
repair
of
the
tombs,
and
a
date
corresponding
to
1309-10
C.E.
Inscriptions
on
the
walls
gave
the
ancestry
of
Esther
and
Mordechai.
A
date
corresponding
to
1140
C.E.
was
found
in
the
smaller
room.
He
added
that
Muslims
called
the
shrine
Ema@mza@da
(q.v.).
Rabbi
Menaháem
ha-Levi
of
Hamada@n
(d.
1940)
mentions
an
inscription
from
Isaiah
26:2
on
the
entrance.
According
to
him,
the
first
room
was
built
200
years
before
and
under
it
were
buried
the
physician
Yisáháaq
ben
Avraham
and
an
emissary
from
Hebron.
In
the
center
of
the
room
was
buried
the
chief
rabbi
of
Hamada@n,
Elyahu
ben
El¿azar
(d.
1865).
He
also
mentions
an
opening
between
the
two
tombs,
through
which
one
could
descend
into
a
cave
used
for
repairs.
He
gave
the
height
of
the
building
as
20
m.
The
archaeologist
Ernst
Herzfeld
described
the
place
as
a
simple
structure
which
has
been
restored
several
times.
The
oldest
part
was
the
underground
tomb-chamber
with
a
small
opening
in
the
top
of
its
vault,
and
two
wooden
cenotaphs,
one
of
which
is
of
the
Mongol
period.
Herzfeld
rejected
the
tradition
relating
the
tombs
to
Esther
and
Mordechai,
who
he
said
were
buried
in
Susa.
He
maintained
that
ˆu@æandokòt,
the
daughter
of
the
Jewish
Exilarch
and
wife
of
the
Sasanian
Yazdegerd
I
(r.
399-420),
was
buried
in
one
of
the
tombs.
See
also
ARDAˆÈR-NAÚMA.
Bibliography.
W.
Bacher,
"Le
Livre
d'Ezra
de
Schahin
Schirazi,"
Revue
des
e‚tudes
juives
55,
1908a,
pp.
280-313.
Idem,
Zwei
jüdisch-persische
Dichter
Schahin
und
Imrani,
Strassburg,
1908b.
Benjamin
of
Tudela,
The
Itinerary
of
Rabbi
Benjamin
of
Tudela,
ed.
and
tr.
A.
Asher,
New
York,
1840,
p
57.
Israel
Joseph
Benjamin
II,
Cinq
Anne‚es
de
Voyage
en
Orient
1846-1851,
Paris
1856,
pp.
153-56.
Y.
F.
Castelman,
Masa¿ot
æaliyahá
záefat
be-arzáot
ha-mizrahá,
Jerusalem,
1942,
pp.
71-72.
E.
E.
Herzfeld,
Archaeological
History
of
Iran,
London,
1935,
pp.
104-7.
D.
Kaufmann,
"Le
tombeau
de
Mordeche‚e
et
d'Ester,"
Revue
des
e‚tudes
juives
36,
1898,
pp.
237-55.
M.
ha-Levi,
Mordechai
ve-Ester
be-æuæan,
Jerusalem,
1932.
Markwart,
Provincial
Capitals,
pp.
19,
96-98.
A.
Netzer,
"Qivrot
Ester
ve-Mordechai
ba-¿ir
Hamadan
she-be
Ira@n,"
Yisrael,
¿Am
ve-Aretz
I,
19,
Tel-Aviv,
1984-85,
pp.
177-84.
J.
Neusner,
A
History
of
the
Jews
in
Babylonia
V,
Leiden,
1970,
pp.
8-14.
J.
Obermeyer,
Die
Landschaft
Babylonien,
Frankfurt,
1929,
pp.
110-12.
J.
E.
Pollak,
"Die
Juden
in
Persien
und
Mordechais
und
Esthers
Grambal,"
Jahrbuch
für
Israeliten,
Wien,
1856,
pp.
142-52.
ˆa@h^n,
Ardaæ^r-na@ma,
Ben
Zvi
Institute
in
Jerusalem,
MS
980.
(Amnon
Netzer)
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