What is "esther"

fem. proper name, Old Testament wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, from Greek Esther, from Hebrew Ester, from Persian sitareh "star," related to Avestan star- (see star (n.)).

Esther (; ), born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Esther was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus is traditionally identified with Xerxes I during the time of the Achaemenid empire, although Flavius Josephus wrote that Esther's king husband was Xerxes' son Artaxerxes.Her story is the basis for the celebration of Purim in Jewish tradition.

Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther.

Esther may also refer to:

Esther is a novel by Henry Brooks Adams first published in 1884 under the pen name "Frances Snow Compton".

The book was republished in 1938, with an introduction by Robert E. Spiller.

Esther ( HWV 50) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. It is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. Handel set a libretto after the Old Testament drama by Jean Racine. The work was originally composed in 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732.

Esther (1865) is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting the central character from the Biblical Book of Esther. It is from Millais's Aesthetic phase, when he was influenced by the work of Frederic Leighton and James McNeill Whistler.

The painting depicts Esther, the Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, as she prepares to enter the presence of her husband. As she is uninvited, she risks death, but does so to inform him of a plot against the Jews.

Millais borrowed the Yellow Jacket, a gown given to General Gordon by the Chinese emperor after his defeat of the Taiping rebellion. In order to create a culturally unspecific effect, he turned it inside out, producing the abstract patterns visible in the painting.

Millais creates a dramatic visual effect by vivid contrasts of colours, setting the deep blue of the curtain against the yellow dress and the white columns. The minimising of the narrative aspect of the scene is also in line with the Aestheticist approach of the artists he is imitating and challenging.

Esther is depicted adjusting pearls in her hair, as she prepares to place her crown on her head. This gesture is derived from paintings by Titian, whose techniques of colouring Millais imitates, along with the modelling of the face and the characteristic "Titian blonde" hair. This also compares with the lush red locks of Millais's earlier picture The Bridesmaid and with some contemporary works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Millais's biographer Marion Spielmann wrote that the painting was "the most modernly treated of Millais's early works...more consonant in its strong harmony with the audacious brilliancy of the present day [1898] than the more solid strength of forty years ago."

Esther is a play in three acts written in 1689 by the French dramatist, Jean Racine. It premiered on January 26, 1689, performed by the pupils of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, an educational institute for young girls of noble birth. The subject is taken from the biblical Book of Esther.

Esther remains one of Racine's lesser known works as it has only three instead of the classical five acts. It dates from the last period of his career when he entered government work and was requested by Madame de Maintenon to return to liturgical drama. It is often negatively compared to Racine's 1691 biblical play written for Maintenon, Athalie.

Esther is a feminine given name known from Esther eponymous heroine of the seventeenth book of the Old Testament. The name is usually derived from the Old Persian stāra ( NPer. ستاره setāra, meaning " star") although some scholars identify Esther with the name of the Babylonian goddess of love Ištar an evidently Semitic name of uncertain meaning. (cf. Mordecai ↔ Marduk).

Esther is an American opera in 3 acts composed by Hugo Weisgall, with a libretto by Charles Kondek. Esther was premiered by the New York City Opera in October 1993. The opera is about Esther’s struggle as she becomes the queen of Persia, and her heroic triumph over the evil Prime Minister Haman and his plot of exterminating the Jews.

Esther, also known as The Bible: Esther, is a 1999 American-Italian-German television film directed by Raffaele Mertes and starring Louise Lombard as Queen Esther, F. Murray Abraham as Mordechai, Jürgen Prochnow as Haman, Thomas Kretschmann as King Achashverosh and Ornella Muti as Vashti.

It aired in the United States on November 5, 2000.

Esther is a British talk show presented by Esther Rantzen. It was aired on BBC Two between 1995 and 2002 and over 600 episodes were made.

Esther is a 1916 British silent historical film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Elisabeth Risdon, Fred Groves and Charles Rock. The film portrays the biblical story of Esther.