Zeresh (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: זֶרֶשׁ) was the wife of

Haman Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian empire under King Ahasuerus#Book of Esther, Ahasuerus, comm ...

the Agagite who is mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Book of Esther The Book of Esther (; ; ), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the Five Megillot, Five Scrolls () in the Hebr ...

Etymology

The etymology of the name Zeresh is debated. Some scholars suggest that the name may derive from the

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

word ''zairiçi'', ‘blonde’, while others have related it to the Elamite deity Kiriša or to an Avestan demoness.

Role in Book of Esther

Zeresh advised her husband to prepare a high

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

(50

cubit The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding Noah ...

s) and to hang

Mordecai Mordecai (; also Mordechai; , IPA: ) is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is the cousin and guardian of Esther, who became queen of Persia under the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). Mordecai's loyalty and ...

on it ( Esther 5:14). However, she later advised Haman that he would not be able to win against Mordecai (Esther 6:12-13). Their plans were soon reversed when King

Ahasuerus Ahasuerus ( ; , commonly ''Achashverosh''; , in the Septuagint; in the Vulgate) is a name applied in the Hebrew Bible to three rulers of Ancient Persia and to a Babylonian official (or Median king) first appearing in the Tanakh in the Book of ...

ordered Haman to be hanged on the same gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:9-10). Ten sons of Haman (and possibly of Zeresh) were later killed in fighting, and

had their bodies hanged on the same gallows that their father was hanged on (Esther 9:7-14). Zeresh's fate is not recorded.

References

{{Authority control Book of Esther people Women in the Hebrew Bible