for his invasion of Greek territories. Esther 1:3 mentions the third year of his reign as the time when Queen Vashti fell out of favor and the process that led to Esther the Jewess becoming queen began. The dramatic events that lie at the heart of the story are placed in the king’s twelfth year (3:7). Both Esther and her cousin Mordecai who had raised her were able to convince the king to issue a counter-edict to offset the order of the king’s evil officer Haman to kill all Jews in the Persian empire;