《旧约》的巾帼英雄，〈以斯帖记〉（Book of
Esther）的中心人物。以斯帖是个美丽的犹太妇女，波斯国王亚哈随鲁（Ahasuerus，薛西斯一世）的妻子。她与堂兄末底改（Mordecai）劝说国王收回在帝国全境尽杀犹太人的成命。哈曼原定在掣签决定的日子屠戮犹太人，结果反而是犹太人消灭了以国王宠臣哈曼为首的敌视犹太人的人们，后来犹太人就定此日为掣签节（Purim）。〈以斯帖记〉可能写于西元前2世纪。

Old Testament heroine, central figure in the Book of Esther. She
was a beautiful Jewish woman, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I).
She and her cousin Mordecai persuaded the king to cancel an order for the
extermination of Jews in his realm, plotted by the king's chief minister, Haman.
Instead, Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, and the Jews
were given permission to destroy their enemies. The Jewish festival of Purim
celebrates this event. The Book of Esther was probably written in the 2nd
century BC.

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