[Avodah] nashim and betulot

[Poppers, Michael]

In Avodah V31n33, RGD wrote (in two separate msg.s):
> I was wondering something else.  How is it that Ahashverosh apparently limited himself to one wife at a time;  his other appetites would have me thinking that Vashti and then Esther were only "reishis ha 'harem' if you'll excuse a Purim pun but that there were plenty more where they came from? <
...
> it's the mashma'us of
the pesukim that now that he had one killed he had to replace her.
He could have promoted from within <
Why not say that there were two levels of "ladies of the manor," the wife and the concubines?  L'havdil, the Torah talks about the "ahuvah" and the "s'nuah," and then there's Chanah and P'ninah...and there's an ishah and a pilegesh....  So yes, Achashveirosh had lots of concubines, but he had only one malkah, and a lady from the concubine "caste" never could be a monarch's wife. 

All the best from 
-- Michael Poppers via BB pager