I study theology and at the moment I am working on the Bible book of Esther. I have read the book many times, but just now I discovered that in Esther 6:8 it is said that the horse on which Mordecai was driven around had a crown on his head. Was that the custom in Persia, or is this a humorous aspect of the story?
You might want to ask r/AcademicBiblical also for this question
I suspect this is just a linguistic issue. What bible translation are you reading? KJV? More modern ones like the NIV tend to use "crest", which is almost certainly the sense in which "crown" is intended. It's surely referring to something akin to heraldric display, a symbol of royal power to mark the horse as one belonging to the Great King. The symbol of the Achaemenians per e.g. Xenophon was apparently a golden eagle, probably something like this plaque from Persepolis. Such a symbol placed on the horse's forehead is likely what the author had in mind.
