Queen Vashti deposed
The king and his nobles were pleased with this advice, so the king did as Memucan proposed. 22 He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, proclaiming in each people’s tongue that every man should be ruler over his own household.
Critics have sometimes claimed that the ridiculous behavior of Xerxes in sending a decree all over the empire just because of one action of his wife is evidence of the fictional nature of the book of Esther. But men have certainly done more ridiculous things than this in the aftermath of a drinking party. The picture of Xerxes in this chapter—drunk, defied, and short-tempered—is hardly a flattering one. Yet this portrait of a man rich in power and wealth but poor in judgment and common sense corresponds very well with the picture given by Herodotus. Whether Xerxes was drunk or sober, it is not too hard to imagine that a man who would order the sea whipped because it had offended him would send a letter all over the empire because his wife insulted him in public.