HAVE YOUR SAY: THE APOCRYPHAL GREEK ESTHER

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There is an alternative version of The Book of Esther which is later and includes a few extra sections. Including Mordecai having a prophetic dream (with two dragons fighting) and later interpreting it, Mordecai and Esther's prayers and an extended version of the Throne room scene where the king is initially angry and Esther faints. My uses of Deuterocanonical sources for the comic are to inform the canonical text if possible where no conflict exists, but I won’t add the verses to the book as it is th e canon version which is being presented.

A good example of this would be that it states in the "Greek Esther" that the king’s sceptre is touched to Esther's neck, a detail missing in the standard text but a useful visual clarification.

People often make a point of the fact the name of God is not in the text of Esther, but with the extra prayers, this is no longer the case, which is interesting. Also, In the Eastern Orthodox church they use this alternative version as their primary apparently so it is well regarded.

A list of the major differences (From Wikipedia)

  • an opening prologue that describes a dream had by Mordecai

  • the contents of the decree against the Jews

  • prayers for God's intervention offered by Mordecai and by Esther

  • an expansion of the scene in which Esther appears before the king, with a mention of God's intervention

  • a copy of the decree in favour of the Jews

  • a passage in which Mordecai interprets his dream (from the prologue) in terms of the events that followed

  • a colophon appended to the end, which reads: In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and his son Ptolemy brought the present letter of Purim, saying that it was genuine and that Lysimachus, son of Ptolemy, of the community of Jerusalem, had translated it.



So the question is, should I include the text at the end of the comic in the notes pages and if so, do I even go so far as to illustrate the bits like the dream and the prayers?

Let me know your thoughts and about this or if you feel strongly that it should not be included, below

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Written by Simon Amadeus Pillario On In , Tagged