Vashti
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(from old Persian: beautiful woman) (Esther 1:9) — queen, wife of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who refused to appear before the king during a feast, and for this, on the advice of the king’s counselors, was deprived by him of her royal dignity. Esther took Vashti’s place at the king’s side. Vashti’s refusal to obey the king’s command was based, it seems, on a Persian custom that considered it degrading to a woman’s honor to appear before men after a banquet — which agrees with the accounts of Plutarch and Herodotus.