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I find it hard to believe that as a royal queen, the Persian Empire buried Esther with Mordechai, instead of with the other monarchs.

Yet there are 2 locations in Iran, both claiming that Mordechai and Esther are buried there.

Did the Jews petition for it? Did they move her grave later?

I know that Mordechai was elevated into power as well, but Esther was the queen and Achashverosh's wife! How'd they pull that off?

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    I'm not sure if this is on topic
    – robev
    Commented Feb 26, 2021 at 9:05
  • Is it ok to also find it hard to believe those traditions are accurate?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 0:07
  • Me too - this sounds like the kind of thing natives do to impress tourists. Want to buy a piece of George Washington's bed?
    – MichoelR
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 0:39
  • shouldn't the fact that there are 2 locations (and presumably someone can only be buried in one place) start you questioning whether either of them is actually valid?
    – Esther
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 8:03
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    @MichoelR, there's usually a huge pilgrimage to Hamadan for Purim, since the Iranian kahal holds that it's the site of their kever (I'm not sure where the other site is)
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Commented Mar 1, 2021 at 2:06

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Firstly it is questionable if Mordechai was buried in Iran to begin with.

The Gemora (Menochos 64B) makes a reference to him being in Eretz Yisroel when the Beis Hamikdush was built (although it's possible that he was just visiting or the story took place during the time of first Beis Hamikdush)

If Mordechai and Esther were in fact buried in Iran one can question if Esther was still a powerful queen at the time of her death. The Gemorah (Megillah 15B ) says that Achashverosh was a very indecisive king who constantly changed his mind. Esther despite her title of queen was probably never his only wife and clearly had a very limited relationship with him if she hadn't spoken to him for thirty days and was so scared to approach him.

Very possibly Achashverosh had some other wife who was the main queen at the time of Esther's death so she wasn't buried with any type of royal honors and they were happy to give her over to the Jewish community.

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    The gemara is referring to the mention of Mordechai among the people who made aliyah both in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7, not that he was around in the time of the building of Bayit Rishon.
    – Harel13
    Commented Mar 1, 2021 at 12:25

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