Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/257

* ESTHER. 225 ESTHONIA. Jews and the confiscation of their properly. A I, this moment Esther, urged on by Mordecai, inter- venes. Uninvited she enters the presence of the King to intercede on behalf of her people. The King receives her graciously, and accepts her in- vitation to dine with her on two consecutive nights. <hi the night preceding the second ban- quet, at which Esther intended t ake known her request, the King learns from the royal ar chives of the services rendered by Mordecai in dis- covering a conspiracy against Ahasucrus's life, for which he had never been rewarded. Hainan, too, comes 1" the banquet, and the King, having in mind Mordecai, asks Hainan what should be done with the man whom the King delighteth to honor. Hainan replies, and endures the hu- mility of himself leading Mordecai in triumph through the streets. At the second banquet Esther discloses her nationality and exposes the designs of Hainan, who is seized and ordered to be executed on a gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. The latter is raised to the vacant post of honor, and the Jews are given permission to defend themselves against the carrying out of the order for their extermination, which, in ac- cordance with the customs of the Medes and Persians, could not be revoked. A great dread falls upon the people, and on the day set for the extermination of the Jews the latter cause a great slaughter among their enemies, besides gain- ing many converts to their religion. In com- memoration of the deliverance the Feast of Purim was instituted. The book of Esther, as is now generally recog- nized by scholars, is a romance, which may, how- ever, contain an historical kernel, being based on some persecution endured by the Jews of Susa. Mordecai and Hainan, as descendants of Benja- min and Agag, typify the old feud between He- brews and Amalekites. It is also probable that a Babylonian legend or myth has guided the au- thor of the book in some of the situations of the dramatic tale. Mordecai is a derivative of Mar- duk, the chief god of Babylonia; Esther is a form of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar; while Hainan and Vashti are names analogous to those borne by Elamitic deities. The story thus represents the conflict between Babylonian and Elamitic gods. The Feast of Purim alsci presents analogies to the Babylonian New Year's Festival. The language of the book, as well as the cir- cumstance that the Persian Empire is treated as a thing of the past, favor a late date for the com- position. It cannot be earlier than the third cen- tury B.C., and may belong to the second century, in which the Jews endured a hard lot that led to the uprising under the lead of the Maccabees. The purpose of the book is twofold: (1) Primarily to illustrate God's care for His people, and thus to encourage the people to loyalty, despite present distress; and (2) to enter a plea for the general observance of a festival which appears at one time to have been limited to the Jews of Baby- lonia and Persia. See Purim. Consult, besides the commentaries on the book of Esther, the articles of Toy, "Esther as a Baby- lonian Goddess," in The New World, vol. vi. (Boston, 1897) ; Zimmern, in Zeitschrift fur Alt- testamentliche Wissenschaft, vol. x. (Giessen. 1891); Jensen, in Wiener Zeitschrift filr die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. vi. (Vienna, 1892) ; Erbt. Die Purimsage in der Bibel (Berlin, 1900). See Esther, Apocryphal Book of. ESTHE'RIA (Neo-Lat., anagram of Saint Then so l. A bivalve phyllopod crustacean of the order Branchiopoda, found in ;i fossil state in deposits of fresh and brackish tvatei origin, from the Devonian to the Pleistocene. The animal is not well segmented, and i- able to withdraw itself wholly within ii- shell. (For it- anatom ical characters, see the articles on Crustacea and Phyixopoda. ) The shell varies in size from one-eighth to one inch in length, ami i- of round ed, flattened form, with moderately prominent beaks near the hinge-line. In texture it i- thin and membranaceous, and the surface is usually marked by concentric told-, or imbricating ridges between which are Utilised or anastomosing lines. This laiier character serves to distinguish Esthi ria shells from the shell- of small peleeypods such as Posidonomya. Due species (Estheria membranacea) is found in the Old Red Sand stone of the British Devonian, in equivalent beds of Germany, and in the eontemporai us forma- tions of the Oneonta-C'astkill group of New York State. About twenty-four living species of Esthe- ria, and about an equal number of fossil species, are known from widely distributed regions. A] lied genera are Limnadia and Limnetis, each rep- resented by a few species, and the fossil genus Leaia, found in the Carboniferous and Permian formations, which differs from Estheria in the presence of diagonal ridges that run from the umbones to the ventral margins of the shell. Bibliography. Jones, "A Monograph of the Fossil Estheriae," Monographs of the Paleronio- graphical Society (London, 1862); "On F< Estheria? and Their Distribution," Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. xix. (London, 1863). See also CRUSTACEA; Piiyllopoda, and, for illustration, see Plate of PlIYLLOPODA. ESTHERVILLE, es'ter-vll. A city and the county-seat of Emmet County, Iowa, 163 miles north by west of Des Moines; on the Des Moines River, and on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern and the Minneapolis and Saint Louis railroads (Map: Iowa, CI). It is an agricul- tural and stock-raising district, and has grain- elevators, flouring-mills, railroad machine-shops, a creamery, tub-factory, etc. The wholesale in- terests are considerable. Population, in 1890, 1475; in 1900, 3237. ESTHO'NTA (Esthonian Esti-ma, Esthland). A government of Russia, the most northern of the Baltic Provinces (q.v.), bounded by the Gulf of Finland on the north, the Government of Saint Petersburg on the east, Lake Peipus and the Gov- ernment of Livonia on the south, and the Baltic Sea on the west (Map: Russia, C 3). Its area, including the islands of Dag.".. Worms. Odensholm. and a large number of smaller islets, is over 7800 square miles. The surface is low, partly swampy, and intersected by numerous streams and lakes. The soil is composed mostly of Silu- rian rocks covered with sand or clay. Large blocks of granite are found in some parts, and turf deposits also occur. The climate is raw in the winter and hot in the summer, but is on the whole healthful. Agriculture, the chief occupa- tion of the inhabitants, is carried on by the most modern methods, and although the soil is not very favorable, the crops are extensive. Over -10 per cent, of the land is under meadows and heaths, and about 20 per cent, under forests, thus making the conditions very favorable for