A: Greek historians do mention Xerxes’ (Ahasuerus) wife Amestris, a name which does sound somewhat like “Esther.” However, according to the Greeks Amestris’ third son was Artaxerxes, who was born about the time Vashti was deposed, leading many scholars to assume that Amestris is another name for Vashti, and that Esther is not a historical figure but a character in a work of Jewish historical fiction. As someone has said, however, the past is what actually happened, whereas history is merely what somebody wrote down. At one time it was a popular view among scholars that the Hittites were a fictitious people, since classical history never mentioned them. In the past century, however, abundant evidence of these people has come to light through archeology, and today no one doubts the historicity of the Hittites. Eventually similar evidence may come to light for Esther. In the meantime, we have the Bible itself, which should be evidence enough.