The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-06-01
AS TO MoRpEcA, AN ESTHER.

As TO MoRDEcAI AN ESTHER.
Sir Purdon Clarke Tells Of the Tombs
at Hamadan.
Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke. director
Of the Metropolitan Museum Of Art.
iecured on 1.-THE Tombs of Mordecai
and Esther" under the auspices OF the
Jewish Theological Seminary of Am
erica, in the vestry rooms of the Tenn
pie Emanuel. The Jews are celebrat-
ing the Feast of Purim or the Feast
Of Esther at the present time.
Sir Purdon Clarke visited the tombs
at Hamadan in Persia which are SAID
to be the burial pace of Mordecal ana
Queen Esther, in 1874, and to him was
shown the tombs by an old rabbi. Ham,
adam is supposed to be the ancient
Ecbatana. capital Of Media, and Is
about 200 miles distant from Susa, the
capital of Persia, over which Esther as
the queen of Ahasuerus is said to have
ruled and to have freed her people,
the Jews. 1t is the centre Of an an
nual pilgrimage Of Jews, who have
worn down the stones around the
tOmbS.
Sir Purdon described the building
containing the tombs as square brick
structure of mean appearance This
building is probably not older than the
fifteenth century. he said, having been
rebuilt and repaired several times. The
porchway entrance. said to be the or
tginal, is a small affair hardly three
feet high, fact which the speaker said
probably helped to prevent the tombs
from being taken apart and carried
away. The lock Is on the inside and
Is similar to those spoken of in the
Song OF Solomon.
I'VE crawled through the entrance
on our hands and knees in homage to
Queen Esther of $500 years ago." con-
tinued the lecturer, land in the centre
were the two sarcophagi. They are Of
elaborate decoration, inlaid with ivory,
mother of pearl and silver, and richly
carved. l never saw anything OF the
kind to equal their beauty or costly
work, as they stood out in contrast
with the rest of the poor building. They
showed that neither money nor the
best talent was spared at the time they
were built"
These tombs, Sir Purdon said, are
merely copies of the real tombs said
to be inside of them. 1t is not known
if the bodies are there or not. The fact
that the bodies are said to be buried
there 200 miles from the capital, Susa.
where Esther resided, is not impossible.
said the lecturer, as it is Persian GUS
tom to carry a body around until in
some way the bearers see it indicate
the place where it wishes for burial.
Carrying dead bodies is the largest
business of the Persian express COM
panies and it is great nuisance to
travellers" saidsSir Purdon.
Israel Levy, a Jewish scholar, has
written a monograph which concludes
that the tomb may be only that of q
Hebrew physician also named Morde-
cal, from inscriptions and dates of the
yCdAo 1O4V anu Low Oh IueW.
Some Hebrew scholars greatly doubt
the history of Mordecai and Esther"
said Sir Purdon. There is some show
of reason in this, as it is difficult to
reconcile details in several versions of
the story with modern discoveries in
the history of Assyria. But 1t is not
fair to examine the details of this ira
dition too critically. Even now they
speak Of the Hall of the Thousand Col
umns at Constantinople, where there
are only sixty-two. All over Asia the
three numbers one. three and one
thousand do for most everything. They
do not know the value of words.
IF they do this now they did it in
ancient times. 1t is reasonable to
reconcile the dates and facts along
these lines. And in the story of Esther
we have proof that Jewish settlement
claiming to be descended from those
carried away in the first captivity are
guardians of a tomb containing two
sarcOphagi, said to contain Or mark
The burial place OF Esther and Morde.
,oi D-Now Vorl Gu,