The first Jewish queen of the Persian empire, Queen Esther (Hadassah), was an orphan who won a royal beauty contest of maidens from 127 provinces, stretching from Greece to Ethiopia. Beyond just being beautiful, she was also patient, clever, and brave. She defied courtly laws to petition the king on behalf of her people. “I will go to the king contrary to the law, and if I perish, I perish,” she said. (Esther 4:16) In doing so she thwarted a genocidal politician and won her tribe the legal right to self defense across the empire. Her banquets changed the world. Her descendants continued ruling for generations. Today, her burial shrine still stands in northwestern Iran, in the center of the city Hamedan. This NFT portrait features an unlockable poem written collaboratively by Elad Arnon and Leigh Cuen. Art by Jill Blutt.