מדרש על מגילה 1:1

A response to an inquiry from the Academy.¹³Probably a reference to the Academy at Pumbeditha. R. Ahai, who wrote this in his She’iltot, expected to be appointed head of the Academy but was deprived of the office by the exilarch because of personal animosity. They asked: It was taught that the Scroll of Esther may be read on the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of Adar, but not before or after those days.¹⁴Mishnah Megillah 1:1.