The BibleGospel Companion
Event · Return and RestorationNo year — placed by sequence

Esther is made queen in Susa

Placed by sequence — no public-domain source dates this

True span4004 BC – AD 100
Beginnings · 4004 BC – 1996 BC · 12 eventsBeginnings4004 BC – 1996 BCThe Patriarchs · 1996 BC – 1635 BC · 34 eventsPatriarchs1996 BC – 1635 BCEgypt and the Exodus · 1635 BC – 1451 BC · 19 eventsExodus1635 BC – 1451 BCConquest and Settlement · 1451 BC – 1400 BC · 7 eventsConquest1451 BC – 1400 BCThe Judges · 1405 BC – 1095 BC · 13 eventsJudges1405 BC – 1095 BCThe United Kingdom · 1095 BC – 975 BC · 38 eventsUnited Kgdm1095 BC – 975 BCIsrael and Judah · 933 BC – 721 BC · 27 eventsIsrael & Judah933 BC – 721 BCJudah Alone · 721 BC – 586 BC · 22 eventsJudah alone721 BC – 586 BCThe Exile · 586 BC – 538 BC · 7 eventsExile586 BC – 538 BCReturn and Restoration · 538 BC – 400 BC · 13 eventsReturn538 BC – 400 BCBetween the Testaments · 400 BC – 4 BC · 8 eventsBetween400 BC – 4 BCThe Life of Jesus · 6 BC – AD 33 · 42 eventsJesus6 BC – AD 33The Apostles and the Early Church · AD 30 – AD 100 · 29 eventsThe ChurchAD 30 – AD 100536 BC — Cyrus decrees that the house of God be rebuilt520 BC — Haggai and Zechariah stir the people to build516 BC — The second temple is finished and dedicated458 BC — Ezra goes up from Babylon with the king's decree433 BC — Nehemiah returns to the king and comes back to reformThe altar is set up and the foundation laid — placed by its order in the narrativeThe work is stopped by the peoples of the land — placed by its order in the narrativeEsther is made queen in Susa — placed by its order in the narrativeHaman's plot fails; the Jews keep Purim — placed by its order in the narrativeNehemiah hears of the broken walls and prays — placed by its order in the narrativeThe wall of Jerusalem is finished in fifty-two days — placed by its order in the narrativeEzra reads the Law and the people weep — placed by its order in the narrativeMalachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament — placed by its order in the narrative
the events of this period, each at its year — this one outlinedplaced only by its order in the narrativethe whole thread →

Told in

Esther 2:1–23After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

Who and where

EstherMordecaiAhasuerusSusa ›
Names and references: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · coordinates: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0

How we know the date

ISBE identifies the Ahasuerus of Esther with Xerxes and gives his reign as a span rather than dating the book's events; Easton's puts the feast of Esther 1 in 479 BC. ISBE's article “Xerxes” (1915) gives a range, 485 BC to 465 BC; Easton's (1897), under “Esther” gives 479 BC. ISBE (1915), whose reckoning this stretch of the timeline follows, does not date it, so no single year is shown and the event is placed by its order in the narrative, between the years quoted.

Written in-house from the sources below · every year is a quotation

The sources, word for word

“Xerxes was king of Persia in 485-465 BC.”

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · XERXES · gives no year

“This took place about fifty-two years after the Return, the year of the great battles of Plataea and Mycale (B.C. 479).”

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · ESTHER · gives 479 BC

Sources