The story of Purim is a most dramatic story of Divinely-orchestrated palace intrigue, so fantastic and wonderful it reads like a fairy tale. Where did it happen? And what archeological evidence points to it?
Where Is Shushan?
The Book of Esther opens in the royal palace of the capital city of Shushan. About 150 years ago, archeologists identified the location of Shushan as the current village of Shush in today’s Iran. It is also known as Susa.1
Strategically located at the foot of the Zagros Mountains near the bank of the Karkheh Kūr River, Shushan has been inhabited since the beginning of civilization and served as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Elam. After the area was conquered by the Persian Empire, Shushan was named one of the three capital cities and home to the royal winter palace.
In addition to the Book of Esther, Shushan is mentioned in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel.2 In fact, according to local tradition, Daniel, who lived and worked in Shushan, is buried not far from the ancient royal palace.
Does the Description of the Palace Match?
Darius the Great, who built the winter palace in Shushan, also built the city of Persepolis, 700 kilometers southeast, where he constructed a summer palace.3
The palaces at Shushan and Persepolis can be presumed to be quite similar to each other. Though the ruins of the Shushan palace are not well preserved, we can learn more about it from the ruins of the Persepolis palace.
In Shushan, King Darius reconstructed his new capital city on three existing mounds. First, he brought all three mounds to the same height by filling in some areas and leveling off others. Then he built the palace on one of the mounds and deepened the valley between that mound and the next one to separate the palace from the rest of the city.
To get to the palace, a visitor would have to cross a 30-meter bridge over the deep ditch and enter through the King’s Gate – presumably the same gate where, according to the Book of Esther, Mordechai overheard the plot against Ahasuerus. The gate, discovered by archeologists in 1970, was massive, measuring 40 meters by 30 meters. It consisted of a main room and two side rooms, likely used by guards. Four columns, each 13 meters tall, supported the roof of the main room. On the base of one of the columns, an inscription reads, “King Xerxes said, ‘King Darius my father built this palace.’”4
The rest of the palace complex consisted of two parts: an apadana, the official section, where formal ceremonies were conducted, and a residential section, which we can presume included the House of the Women, where Esther was taken.
The apadana was enormous, 10,000 square meters in size, with a ceiling soaring up to 20 meters high. The roof was held up by six rows of six giant pillars, each topped by a colossal capital.
A stone platform discovered near the southern wall likely held the throne. Three porticoes bordered the apadana on the east, north, and west sides. Each had two rows of six columns.
The royal residence, situated south of the apadana, occupied about 38,000 square meters. It was arranged around three courtyards, decreasing in size from east to west. At the foot of the northern façade of the outermost courtyard, archeologists found a lion relief, made of glazed bricks. We can theorize that it was to this courtyard that Haman came in the middle of the night, intending to ask the king to hang Mordechai on the gallows he had prepared.5
To get from one courtyard to the next, a visitor would have to pass a double guardroom, and to get to the innermost courtyard, one had to pass three guardrooms. The king’s own chamber faced the inner courtyard. Possibly, it was there that Esther stopped and waited for the king to stretch out his scepter, indicating to the guards of the inner courtyard that they should allow her in.6
Archeologists discovered the palace’s foundation tablets near the entrance to the throne room. On the foundation tablets, the king describes the building of the palace. King Darius begins his description, “The palace which I built at Susa, its ornamentation was brought from afar.”7
He goes on to list many different materials that were used in the building, along with which nation contributed that particular material. For example, the cedar timber was brought from Lebanon, the gold was brought from Sardis and Bactria, and the silver and ebony were brought from Egypt. He concludes, “At Susa a very excellent [work] was ordered, a very excellent [work] was brought to completion.”8
Inscriptions from King Xerxes were also found in the palace. It appears that he completed the construction that his father had begun.9
Was the Palace as Rich as Described?
In its description of the opulence at King Ahasuerus’ party, the Book of Esther lists golden vessels, expensive fabrics, marble pillars, and gold and silver couches. Though archeologists found that Shushan’s palace treasury was empty, likely looted throughout the centuries, similar items or their descriptions were found elsewhere.
The Greek historian Herodotus described the Persian banquet in a traveling tent:
Treasure there was in plenty – tents full of gold and silver furniture: couches overlaid with the same precious metals; bowls, goblets, and cups all made of gold; and wagons loaded with sacks of gold and silver basins.10
Later historians relate that when Alexander the Great captured Shushan, he found many treasures there. Among them were 150 tons of purple-dyed wool, still bright in color,11 as well as golden goblets.12 These same items are also mentioned in the Megillah’s description of the royal banquet.
The marble columns themselves were not preserved in Shushan, but the marble columns at Persepolis are likely very similar. Those columns are massive, close to 20 meters in height.
Some column capitals were preserved in Shushan, and they are gigantic, featuring two strong bulls facing away from each other, giving us an inkling of the giant pillars that once supported them.
Another interesting find at Shushan was a large amount of fragments of alabaster jars, which archeologists believe contained perfume. Perhaps they were used by women preparing for Ahasuerus’ infamous beauty contest.13
How Did Word Travel?
Several times, the Book of Esther describes the king sending out messengers to all corners of his vast empire. Other sources tell us about the extensive and efficient communication system that was developed in the Persian Empire.
Greek historian Herodotus described the Royal Road, which extended between Shushan and Sardis, in modern-day Turkey, part of the transportation network connecting the empire:14
There is nothing in the world which travels faster than these Persian couriers… It is said that men and horses are stationed along the road, equal in number to the number of days the journey takes – a man and a horse for each day. Nothing stops these couriers from covering their allotted stage in the quickest time possible – neither snow, rain, heat nor darkness.15
Whenever the king sent out a new decree, it was passed along the road in a relay arrangement, reaching even the most distant corners of the empire within two weeks.
In Persepolis, archeologists found tablets listing food rations for couriers carrying royal documents. The tablets mention documents sent between the capitals, Shushan and Persepolis, and the edges of the Persian Empire. The tablets also mention especially fast messengers carrying sealed documents from the king.16
What Happened to Mordechai and Esther?
Not much archeological evidence exists to explain what happened to Mordechai and Esther after the events of Purim. Esther is not mentioned in any Persian sources, but that is not unusual, as Persian sources very rarely mention women.
The name Mordechai, on the other hand, appears frequently in the Persepolis Foundation tablets. Researchers believe that there were at least four different royal officials named Mordechai. Could one of them be the Mordechai from the Purim story?
There is also a scriptural report of Mordechai Bilshan being among those who returned to the Holy Land from the Babylonian exile.17 The sages identify him as none other than Mordechai of the Purim story.18
Yet, in the city of Hamadan, Iran, there is a local tradition that Mordechai and Esther are buried there, and local Jews continue to visit the tomb every year before Purim.19
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