How many children did Esther have?

Answer 1

There is no record anywhere in the Persian records of a Queen Esther, although the Book of Esther says that King Xerxes I married her soon after he divorced Vashti in the third year of his reign. In fact, historians say that King Xerxes was married to Queen Amestris at that very time and remained married to her for at least the next several years. So we can not look for answers in history.

If Esther really was married to Xerxes, as stated in the Book of Esther, she would have been queen, legitimately married. Darius II was known as Darius Nothus {Darius the bastard) because his mother was a concubine, Artaxerxes having no surviving legitimate heir, and therefore Darius II would could not have been the son of a legitimate queen. Thus, we have no secure information about any sons of Esther.

The final word comes from biblical scholars, who say that the Book of Esther was a second-century-BCE Jewish novel, so its characters only have relationships defined by the book's author.

Answer 2

We know of one son. Tradition states that Darius II was her son. See also:

Reliability of the Hebrew record

Esther was the heroine and central figure in the Biblical book of Esther. She was crowned about 55 years after the destruction of the First Temple, and fifteen years before the Second Temple was built. The Jews were in the Babylonian exile. A few of them, such as Nehemiah, Mordecai and Daniel, rose to positions of prominence under the Babylonian kings.
The last of the Prophets of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) were still living.
King Cyrus had recently made his famous proclamation (2 Chronicles 36:22-23) allowing the Jews to resettle Judea (Israel), and some had gone up with Zerubavel, but the enemies of the Jews had then slandered them (Ezra ch.4), causing the Babylonian king to put a stop to the rebuilding and resettlement of Judea. This last event was around the same time that Esther became Queen.

When she became orphaned, she was adopted by her cousin Mordecai.

Later, when Queen Vashti refused to appear before Ahasuerus (in Esther ch.1), Memuchan, a Persian royal adviser, advised King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) to remove Vashti from being Queen of Persia, and King Ahasuerus agreed to his advice.

In Esther Chapter 2, royal eunuchs advised Ahasuerus to look for a new queen. Esther was the best-looking woman, and Ahasuerus picked her to replace Vashti as Queen.

Esther and her cousin Mordecai (who had once saved the king's life) later persuaded the king to cancel an order for the extermination of the Jews in his vast realm, which had been plotted by the king's chief minister, Haman. Instead, Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, and the Jews were given permission to destroy their enemies. The Jewish festival of Purim celebrates this event.

According to tradition, the book of Esther was written in the mid-4th century BCE, and was made part of the canon which was sealed a couple of decades after.

Esther was queen for about 11 years.
The name of Mordecai is the Judaised pronunciation of Marduka, which is attested in the Persepolis Texts as the name of officials in the Persian court during the period of Xerxes I. One of these officials was the biblical Mordecai.

The grave of Mordecai and Esther still stands in Hamadan; and the Jews of Iran, to this day, are referred to as "the children of Esther."

For the name of Esther, a number of etymologies are possible.
1) Esther comes from the Persian "setareh," meaning "star".
2) Esther comes from the Aramaic "istahar," meaning "moon." Beautiful as the moon (Talmud, Megillah 13a).
3) Esther comes from the Semitic root ath-tar, "morning star." There is support for this too in the Talmud (Yoma 29a).
4) Esther comes from the Median "astra," meaning "myrtle." The book of Esther (2:7) states that she had both names, Esther and Myrtle (Hadassah in Hebrew).

See also:

Why was Esther chosen as Queen?

More about the Hebrew Bible

Jewish history timeline

Answer 3

Another answer from our community:

We know of one son. Tradition states that Darius II was her son.

Answer 4

Tradition states that the second King Darius was the son of Esther and Achashverosh.

Answer 5

Tradition informs us of at least one son.