Endnote 9 – The Book of Esther

Herodotus 3.69–79 tells us about a plot of the seven highest Persian aristocrats against a magician who usurped the throne in 522 B.C.E. This plot brought to power Darius I, the father of Xerxes. Another variant of these same events is given in Herodotus 3.83–88. On the broad rights of the seven, see Herodotus 3.118.