Scroll of Esther
Italy, seventeenth century

An Esther Scroll (Megillat Esther in Hebrew) is a copy, written on parchment, of the biblical Book of Esther. It relates the story of a Jewish girl who becomes the queen of Persia and, through the twists and turns of a complex plot, thwarts a plan by the evil Haman to destroy the Persian Empire’s Jewish subjects. The story, recited publicly from a scroll, lies at the core of the Jewish festival of Purim.

MS Add.1013