Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
The book of Esther says:
וַיָּ֧סַר הַמֶּ֛לֶךְ אֶת־טַבַּעְתּ֖וֹ ... לְהָמָ֧ן -- The king gave Haman a ring. [Esther 3:10]
So they had telephones. Wow! Also:
לַיְּהוּדִ֕ים הָֽיְתָ֥ה אוֹרָ֖ה וְשִׂמְחָ֑ה וְשָׂשֹׂ֖ן וִיקָֽר׃ -- The Jews had light and gladness and joy and a car. [Esther 8:16]
They also had cars! Far out! What other modern technologies did they have and we didn't know?
I'm not sure about Persia, but it appears that Ebay and Amazon predate even that, as King Shlomo writes in Shir Hashirim 6:11
אֶל־גִּנַּ֤ת אֱגוֹז֙ יָרַ֔דְתִּי לִרְא֖וֹת בְּאִבֵּ֣י הַנָּ֑חַל לִרְאוֹת֙ הֲפָֽרְחָ֣ה הַגֶּ֔פֶן הֵנֵ֖צוּ הָרִמֹּנִֽים׃
I went down to the nut grove, on Ebay / The River; to see if the vines had blossomed, if the pomegranates were in bloom.
Remember, Shir Hashirim is very allegorical. Most commentators translate "The River" to refer to Amazon.com, which was named after a river in South America. The "nut grove" refers to the office where he kept his computer, and "vines had blossomed" refers to checking to see if his auctions were attracting any bids, and the pomegranates in bloom is k'peshuto, he went on Ebay/Amazon to see if he could order any fresh pomegranates.
The midrashim have a dispute if he had visited Brazil during his reign, or if he heard about it from speaking to the birds he conversed with. The "nut grove" might be a reference to brazil nuts, which he regularly ordered online.
Tik Tok was also well available for those familiar with cockney slang
Tik Tok originally התך
as in
וַיֵּצֵ֥א הֲתָ֖ךְ אֶֽל־מׇרְדֳּכָ֑י אֶל־רְח֣וֹב הָעִ֔יר אֲשֶׁ֖ר לִפְנֵ֥י שַֽׁעַר־הַמֶּֽלֶךְ
And the tik tok (that esheter made) went viral through mordchai through the whole city (of tiktok)
They had Wi-Fi.
The Midrash Rabbah says (Esther Rabbah 10:4) that Haman needed to find a place where there was Wi-Fi, he went and sought a barber-shop, where there definitely would be a great internet-connection. When he came to the door of the barber-shop, there was a sign on the door stating that Wi-Fi was too expensive, and hence they did not offer it anymore to customers.
אֲמַר לֵיהּ וַוי לַאֲבוּהּ דְּהַהוּא גַבְרָא מַעֲבֵיר דּוּמִין פַּנְטוֹן קוֹמִין קְלֵטוֹ עֲבֵיד בַּלָּן סַפָּר
(ווי פיי)
