VASTHI. - Wife, among those of second rank, and for a brief time favoured, Assuero (v.) or Serse I (486-65), who repudiated her because of V.’s resistance to one of his whims; in her place Ester was admitted ([v.] Esth. 1-2).
The name is Iranian: Vahisti, “the excellent one.” There is no relationship whatsoever between V. name, as Jensen thought, solely in order to link the story of Esther to Babylonian mythology. Erodoto (IX, 108-13) mentions only Amestris as wife of Serse and queen of Persia. The Persians could have several legitimate wives (Erodoto, I, 135; and, for Dario I, ibid., II, 88); only one, however, who had to be of royal lineage, occupied first place; such was Amestris, with whom Erodoto and the official historians were naturally concerned. The book of Esther, on the other hand, does not mention Amestris, because she has no connection with the episode recounted.