With Vashti vanquished, the king was without a queen

[Mary Naeem]

With Vashti vanquished, the king was without a queen. Xerxes’ attendants suggested he make a search for beautiful virgins throughout the land to find a new queen. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that King Ahasuerus chose a total of 400 women to fill the harem and act as candidates for the new queen (Esther 2:1–4). The women were to undergo a year's worth of beauty treatments before meeting the king (verse 12). Esther, a Jewess whose Hebrew name was Hadassah, was chosen as one of the virgins (verse 8).