Bible Review

Lewy maintained that Bougaios, the Greek rendering of Heb. h’ggy in Esther 3:1 (= “the Agagite”), means “Bagaian” (i.e. “worshipper of Mithra”), and that Haman is to be associated with hoama, the sacred drink of Mithra worship.

Julius Lewy, “The Feast of the 14th Day of Adar,” Hebrew Union College Annual 14 (1939), pp. 127–51.

Some scholars even found fragments of these myths in Greek and Palestinian myths. Old though it is, Lewis B. Paton’s account of possible Jewish and Greek prototypes for Purim still covers the ground adequately (Esther, ICC [Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1908], pp. 77–84).

H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprunge des Purimfestes,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZAW) 11 (1891), pp. 157–169; P. Jensen, “Elamitische Eigennamen: Ein Beitrag zur Erklärung der elamitischen Inschriften, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM) 6 (1892), pp. 47–70.

For an excellent rhetorical analysis, see Sandra B. Berg, The Book of Esther: Motifs, Themes and Structures, Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979).

For other improbabilities and contradictions, see Moore, Esther: Introduction, pp. xlv–vi.

Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars, 7.114 and 9.112.

For photographs of various types of ancient Near Eastern lots, see William W. Hallo, “The First Purim,” BA 46 (1983), pp. 19–29.

For a more detailed summary of Albright’s article, see BAR 02:01

William F. Albright, “The Lachish Cosmetic Burner and Esther 2:12, ” A Light Unto My Path: Old Testament Studies in Honor of Jacob M. Myers, ed. Howard N. Bream, Ralph D. Heim, and Moore (Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1974), pp. 25–32.