Esther 1:9

Vashti the queen If we identify Ahasuerus with Xerxes, the queen here mentioned must have been Amestris, his only wife known to secular history. She was daughter of Otanes (Herod. vii. 61), one of the seven who conspired against Pseudo-Smerdis (b.c. 522). The name Vashti has been explained as another form of Amestris, the letters mand vreadily interchanging as labials. It may, however, be a modification of the Old Persian vahista, excellent.

made a feast for the women The sexes were separated in the case of all public meals, although the Persian custom seems to have been that the queen was as a rule admitted to the king's table. [60]

[60] See Herod. ix. 110, who tells us that at the annual banquet in celebration of the king's birthday Amestris the queen -made request of Xerxes that he would please to give her as her present the wife of Masistes" (the king's brother) as it was her cruel desire to torture her.

in the royal house The harem was probably on the south side of the above-mentioned hall of pillars.