The Megillat Esther Massacre

According to Rabbinic halakha, cities that were walled in the ancient past (the time of Joshua) celebrate on the 15th, the day the walled city of Shushan celebrated. Other cities celebrate on the 14th, the day the unwalled cities celebrated. There is some question among halakhic authorities about whether Zefat was a walled city in the time of Joshua or not.

For more on whether the story is real or apocryphal, see here.

See, Barry Dov Walfish, Esther in Medieval Garb: Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Esther in the Middle Ages(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), chapter 6 for a detailed discussion.

Immanuel ben Solomon of Rome (ca. 1261 – mid 14th century) has a similar approach.

See Walter Scheidel, “Roman population size: the logic of the debate,” in Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics (July 2007). Based on Herodotus, Pascal Lemaire estimates that there were 8000 Spartan males (meaning probably citizens) around 480 BCE (http://www.ancient.eu/city/). Athens, according to A. W. Gomme, had a total population of 315,000 including women and slaves, of which 140,000 were men. See A. W. Gomme, The Population of Ancient Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC (Glasgow University Publications 28; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933). See also Josiah Ober, “Wealthy Hellas,” in Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics(May 2010). Ober cites Mogens Hansen, who notes that a large Greek polis in the 4th century BCE had a population of 30,000.

Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy (Princeton University Press, 2001), chapter 1.

Some ancient sources estimate the death toll at 150,000. Conversely, some modern scholars, like Peter Brunt, believe that even the number 80,000 could be an exaggeration. See discussion in Peter A. Brunt, Italian Manpower 225 B.C. – A.D. 14 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), 224-227.

Editor’s Note: For a broad survey of the biblical perspectives on military violence against civilians, see Jacob L. Wright and Carly L. Crouch, “Military Crimes,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law (ed. Brent A. Strawn; vol. 2 MAG-WOM; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 46-53.

For a description of Ancient Near Eastern warfare with a comparison to the biblical worldview, see: Carly L. Crouch,War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East (BZAW 407; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010). For a discussion of holy war in the Bible, see Reuven Firestone, Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea (Oxford University Press, 2012), chapter 1.