[Avodah] esther and the king

[Eli Turkel]

In spite of what has been claimed here I find it very difficult to believe
that kings made it a habit of taking married women into their harem.
In fact we read of the feast that achashverosh made to get the people on
his side.
Many of the Persian kings were faced with revolts or were themselves
usurpers. Xerxes himself
fought against the Eygptians, Babylonians and Greeks among others. Hence,
it would not make much sense to act against your own loyal citizens (as
disinct from a conquered enemy).
In fact Xerxes was not the oldest son of Darius and so he was not the
natural successor.

BTW tis there anything in the megilla to indicate that Esther was the main
queen rather than a (senior) concubine?

BTW for a description of the housing for the harem of Achasverosh see

http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/collections/pa/persepolis/harem_xerxes.html

-- 
Eli Turkel
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