Esther 5:1

Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. Esther put on her royal apparel. It was not only natural, but, on such occasions, highly proper and expedient, that the queen should decorate herself in a style becoming her exalted station. On ordinary occasions she might reasonably set off her charms to as much advantage as possible; but on the present occasion, as she was desirous to secure the favour of one who sustained the twofold character of her husband and her sovereign, public as well as private considerations-a regard to her personal safety, no less than the preservation of her doomed countrymen-urged upon her the propriety of using every legitimate means of recommending herself to the favourable notice of Ahasuerus, especially decking her person with all the costly jewels and superb attire which had been the gifts of the royal liberality to her.

The king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. The palace of this Persian king seems to have been built, like many mere of the same quality and description, with an advanced cloister, over against the gate, made in the fashion of a large pent-house, supported only by one or two contiguous pillars in the front, or else in the center. In such open structures as these, in the midst of their guards and counselors, are the bashaws, kadis, and other great officers accustomed to distribute justice, and transact the public affairs of the provinces. In such a situation the Persian king was seated; and, at least in Shushan, "the house of the women" was separated from the "king's house" by the intervention of a "court." similar was the position of the harem at Khorsabad ('Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 646; Fergusson's 'Palaces of Nineveh,' p. 254; Botta, 'Monumens de Nineve,' 5:, p. 42). The seat he occupied was not a throne according to our ideas of one but simply a chair, and so high that it required a footstool. It was made of gold, or, at least, inlaid with that metal, and covered with splendid tapestry, and no one except the king might sit down on it under pain of death. It is often found pictured on the Persepolitan monuments, and always of the same fashion. A fly-flapper usually attended at the side or back of the throne.