Esther

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In Purgatorio XVII, among the examples of punished pride and contrary virtues, Dante evokes the biblical story of Esther. Haman, minister of the Persian king Ahasuerus, had ordered the crucifixion of the Jew Mordecai, uncle of Queen Esther, because he refused to pay him adoration; along with him he intended to exterminate all the Jews of the kingdom. Esther revealed the cruel plan of the minister to the king, and Ahasuerus had Haman crucified on the cross prepared for Mordecai, thus saving the Jews from extermination. In verse 29 of the canto, Esther is recalled alongside Mordecai, presented as the just one, and the king is designated as the great Ahasuerus. In the patristic tradition, beginning with Saint Jerome, Esther who saves her people was considered a figure of the Church, while Haman represented the devil.