Queen Esther turns half of Xerxes's Persia into a Jewish homeland

This may be ASB, but it's an intriguing idea. This assumes that the Book of Esther occurred more or less as written (which is unlikely, but we'll assume that's what happened for the time being).

Background: Xerxes II is in power in Persia. He has deposed a primary queen, Vashti, and replaced her with a woman named Esther whom he does not know is of Jewish descent. His prime minister, Haman, has been offended by some of the Jews' customs and has tricked the king into authorizing a pogrom. Esther's cousin, Mordechai, has urged her to confront Haman and stop the pogrom. She fasts for three days and then approaches the king, uninvited. The king tells her that she can have anything she wants, up to half the kingdom.

In the Bible as we know it, Esther uses her authority to get Haman invited to a party. At the party, she accuses Haman of attempted genocide. Haman is eventually executed. Mordechai becomes prime minister and helps organize a good, fair government.

POD: Esther is about to bring up the pogrom when she suddenly realizes that the king has offered her half the kingdom. Her ancestors were recently exiled from their homeland in Israel and as a result the Jews have no home. She believes that God made her queen in order for her to help found a new Jewish homeland.

She tells Xerxes that she'd like half the Persian Empire as a Jewish state, or at least an autonomous region under the control of His Majesty. Xerxes is caught off guard, to say the least. He says that he hadn't expected her to actually ASK for half the kingdom, but when Esther brings up the possibility of God getting involved he starts getting a bit nervous and says a tentative yes (though for a little less than half the empire -- maybe a quarter). After all, he's thinking of beating up on the Greeks and doesn't want have to spend all his time worrying about stuff in the eastern half of the empire -- leave that to Esther.

A week goes by and Xerxes realizes that he made a mistake (the same reaction he has when he deposed Vashti). However, at this point the news has spread. Haman is originally pissed, but he suddenly realizes that instead of executing the Jews he can just exile them to "Esther's Kingdom" -- a far less barbaric act. Rumors start up that Xerxes has actually issued a declaration permitting the creation of an autonomous region in the eastern half of the empire, which causes Xerxes even more problems as Persian law dictates that he cannot rescind his own decrees. Of course, he can always issue a decree requiring that Haman attack the newborn kingdom -- but does he really want a civil war in his country just as he is about to attack Greece?

What do you think happens? I envision the autonomous region being run jointly by Mordechai (the de jure ruler -- I don't know if the Persians allowed women to actually rule) and Esther. Mordechai proves to be a good ruler (learning from Xerxes himself) and all of the Jews migrate to the new region along with other peoples persecuted by the Persians. The western half of the empire is happy that they're rid of the undesirables and the eastern half of the empire is happy that they're rid of their persecutors.

Could this kingdom actually last?

ACG
 
Intriguing idea!

I'm certainly no expert in that specific area but I wonder how long the kingdom has before Xerxes is either deposed/assassinated for such "incompetence" in letting a "woman get the better of him" or Xerxes finds a way to weasel out of the promise. Losing a quarter of the empire even in name will not be tolerated and unless he and his advisers REALLY want Greece so bad they'll ignore the "internal dissent" then some excuse for "reconquest" will be found, I'd assume.

Also, how populous are the Jews compared with the many other ethnic groups of the area at this time? How much land could they control without over stretching?
 
They're probably a small but closely-knit group. What could start out as a Jewish homeland (even a small one of maybe 10% of the empire) could become a haven for refugees (and Jews all over the world)...at least until somebody decides to rebuild the Temple and impose a possible state religion and high priesthood.

There are two options as I see them: a Jewish homeland making up a small percentage of the empire (maybe 2-3%, perhaps one province) or a refugee homeland made up of maybe 8-10%. I would assume Esther would initially go for the former. Xerxes would probably get pretty surprised when all of a sudden refugees are heading into this new province from Babylon and places like that. As long as they pay their taxes he can tolerate them.

I have no idea how long the country/autonomous region would survive (would it even survive the deaths of Mordechai and Esther? Prehaps if Mordechai and Esther get it organized enough to reinstitute the high priesthood the high priesthood can take care of that -- maybe they can do what the Maccabees did).

If Xerxes were overthrown, Haman could easily be made king on the grounds of "I knew we should have killed those guys..." and try to crush the rebellion. He may hope to destroy the still organizing kingdom quickly and then turning back to Greece. Of course, as a former subject Mordechai is familiar with Haman (not to mention Esther).

ACG
 
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