How old was Queen Esther when she died?

Answer 1

The Bible doesn't say when she died.

ANSWER

Although the Bible does not give many details of Esther's life, Persian records do. Esther was born about 492BC and was 14 when she became Queen. She was the wife of the Persian King Xerxes [aka "Ahasuerus" in many Bibles] who ruled Persia from 486 to 465 BC.

She had one son with King Ahasuerus, named Darius, who became King Darius II. Esther had brought him up to be favorable to the Jews and he later rebuilt the holy Temple in Jersusalem. It is believed that Esther's life extended into the reign of her stepson, Artaxerxes. but the date of her death is not known. However, just because you don't know when someone died doesn't mean they didn't exist. Jewish and Persian tradition is that Queen Esther's tomb is in Hamadan, also known as Ecbatana, located in what is now western Iran.

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:

According to Jewish rabbis, referencing: Bereishet Rabba , Queen Esther was either 40, 75, or 80. The ages are a combination of three opinions

Answer 3

It is most unlikely that there ever was a Queen Esther, in which case we can not say how old she was. The Book of Esther, which does not tell how old she was, is certainly not historical and appears to be fictional.

Answer 4

We don't know, though tradition teaches that she lived a long life. 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."

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.

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 5

Esther 2:2 says that young virgins were brought before the king, and we find that Esther was one of these young virgins. According to widespread customs of the time, Esther would have been in her early teens, or even younger. Xerxes ruled for a total of about twenty years, so in this story Esther could have been Queen into her mid-thirties.

We can not look to the historical record for Esther's age, because there is no historical record of Esther or of her predecessor, Vashti, and Queen Amestris is accepted by historians as Xerxes' only wife for the first several years of his reign. There was no Queen Esther.

Answer 6

The Hebrew Bible does not state that she was a virgin, and does not give her age. Verse 2:9 is translated as "maiden," but that word (if it implies virgin) is not there in the Hebrew. The Hebrew naarah (2:9) means "girl," but in some contexts may be unspecific as to age. Both women and (young) virgins are mentioned in 2:17.

Other information:

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 7

The Bible doesn't give account to when or how old she was when she died...

Answer 8

The Bible does not specify how old she was when her parents died. Considering that she was likely in her mid-teens when she met King Ahasueros, that she lost her parents before that point.

Answer 9

Queen Esther's dad died before her mother gave birth to her. Her mother died when she was giving birth to her.