event · E0013
Purim פורים
In Shushan the capital, Haman cast the pur — the lot — to fix a day for destroying every Jew in the empire, and the lot fell on the thirteenth of Adar. The decree was overturned through Esther and Mordechai, the day of destruction became a day of relief, and the days were named Purim for the pur itself. On the traditional count it falls inside the seventy years of Galut Bavel, with the Second Temple's completion just three years away.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- פורים
- Also known as
- The Miracle of Purim
- Era
- bible
II. When
- Traditional
- 3405 AM
- Academic
- 5th century BCE, if Achashverosh is Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE)
- Date range
- 356 BCE (traditional reckoning)
- Precision
- approximate
IV. What
- Events
- Galut Bavel
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the twelfth year of King Achashverosh, Haman cast "pur, that is the lot" to destroy the Jews on a single day; after the reversal, "therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of the pur."
Confidence is for what the biblical text states. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| Seder Olam sets Achashverosh's reign between Koresh and the Daryavesh in whose sixth year the Temple was finished — placing Purim at 3405 AM, inside the Galut Bavel span (Galut Bavel) and just three years before the Second Temple's completion (Building of the Second Temple).
The academic identification of Achashverosh with Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE) sits more than a century earlier than the traditional arithmetic equivalent (356 BCE) and after the academic date for the Second Temple's completion (516 BCE) — the two chronologies order Purim and the Temple's completion differently. Both are stated; the atlas positions the event by traditional AM.
|
tradition | ★★★☆☆ |