Vashti! Who was she? Why should she become the focus of an audio installation at Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) as part of its Institute for Contemporary Culture? As it stands, she is a rather complicated, yet seemingly insignificant, biblical figure, whose existence cannot be historically verified. She is, of course, not the only one, nor the only incident, deriving from the ancient Hebrew scriptures, who or which has no historical marker. In the Judeo-Christian canon such individuals or events are either accepted by faith or tradition, while others are set aside and questioned.

Vashti was, according to the Midrash (ancient interpretations of Hebrew scripture) the great-granddaughter of King Nebuchaddnezzar II of Babylon. She is also supposed to have been the strikingly beautiful wife of King Ahausuerus, whom some identify as King Xerxes of Persia. There is a problem here, however. Some claim that Xerxes' wife, Amestris can be identified as Vashti. This complicates the problem because there is evidence that Amestris lived well into the reign of her son, Artaxerxes I, while Vashti's story ends well before then. The name Vashti in Persian can be said to mean 'beautiful' or 'good'. So much for a partial background of this character.

Vashti has become a small heroic figure in the modern feminist movement although no one really knows anything about her other than that she refused to dance before her kingly husband and his companions and consequently became banished from his court and his presence. She is the lead-in figure to The Book of Esther, a book that might be called a novella in our sense. In the original text, God never enters into the tale, which is taken to have been written sometime between the fifth and second centuries BC, i.e. between the Persian and Maccabean periods. Later scribes decided to give it a religious spin and added chapters in Greek.

One of the problems with Vashti's and Esther's story is that, while it contains some references to the Persian period of the Jewish Diaspora, it lacks any reference to or interest in Palestinian religious institutions. The Book of Esther is seen by many scholars as simply a tale concerned with the problems that are created for Jews living in foreign lands, and from its content is seen as having been composed in the eastern Diaspora.

The Book of Esther is, of course, read aloud in synagogues since antiquity to explain the festival of Purim, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from annihilation in the Persian kingdom through the intervention of Esther and her cousin (or uncle) Mordicai. Purim is seen as coming from the Persian word 'pur', meaning lot, purim being the plural.

It was customary in ancient times, even in Athens, to cast stones or chards of pottery into a vessel to decide something. In the case of the Book of Esther, Haman cast the lot against the Jews, in favor of persecution. He, of course, ended up at the wrong end of a rope intended for Mordicai, and the Jews were saved from yet another period of persecution.

But Esther is not the reason for the installation located outside the ROM. There, in a somewhat secluded area a metal bench has been set up with two headphones to allow people to listen to a continuous audio track that attempts to explore ancient Judaic, Persian and Babylonian feminist history. The creator of this installation, Evan Tapper, interviewed a number of women of various ages (judging by their voices and comments) to give contemporary significance to Queen Vashti's story and possible fate.

He chose to place his installation in this area because, as he states it not only is the ROM undergoing reconstruction but, "The ROM has an incredible collection of ancient artifacts. . . . This dramatic, triple door entrance is locked during construction. Just a few steps north of the former entrance, a large red sign has been attached to a steel railing to direct visitors to the museum's temporary entrance. The steel bench [for Tapper's installation] is mounted to that railing. As one sits on the bench, in a semi-private space behind the sign, one faces the words: 'The Arts of Man Through All The Ages', carved in stone."

It seems ironic to me that it took a male of the species to wonder about this character, Vashti, and the queen's possible fate. Perhaps there are other works created by women to give this seemingly brave woman a place in history and in literature, but I have not come across any. So, my apologies to those who may have written about her. But, at this point, it is a male not a female who takes up Vashti's cause, which says something about women.

A look at history often shows that women insist, for fashion's sake or for ensuring marriageability of daughters, to blindly follow traditions rather than revolting against them that impose horrific pain and lifelong discomfort on their offspring. Think of the Chinese mothers who continued to bind their daughters' feet until it took a degree from a man, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, to abolish this practice. Sun Yat-sen is considered the Father of Modern China by both the Communists on the Mainland and in Taiwan, which is an unusual honor.

While there are a few brave women who will object to the circumcision of their daughters, most abide without complaint, even encouraging this mutilating practice, which has no religious basis. In many societies in which the grandmother is the head of the family, she will enforce the isolation of her female relatives to ensure her power. Even in supposedly secular Morocco, this is still the case.

So, here we have an artist, Evan Tapper, opening up a biblical subject that makes women ponder Vashti's fate. Few of those interviewed by Tapper had any real understanding of Vashti and often seemed to be influenced by later additions to The Book of Esther, which bring in the 'God' factor that is not contained in the actual story. A sad smile comes to one's face when listening to one or two women telling the story of why Vashti refused to dance in front of the assembled - no doubt highly inebriated - male crowd: the Angel Gabriel gave her a tail because she was cruel and wicked. Where, one wonders, did that story come from? It is neither contained in the official Hebrew, nor the Christian King James' version of the Bible.

Some saw her as the 'first feminist' for standing up to her husband. Some understood that Vashti's existence is not supported by historic fact. Some saw the king as being weak because he asked those close to him who understood his country's laws better than he did what to do about Vashti for refusing a royal command performance. Yet even today politicians must ask counsel of those who know more than they do about a subject lest they seen as dictatorial. Few of the women interviewed seemed to really understand the times in which the book was written. One suggested that Vashti, after banishment, may have dressed as a man and left the palace to lead a new life. One young woman thought she most likely took an apartment, met another man and started a new life. There is a naiveté in many of the imaginings that leaves one wonder how much is being taught either in Sunday school or in shul about this story. Why did some see Vashti as being evil? Esther the good queen, Vashti the bad one? There is also one young woman who saw Vashti reincarnated in Dido (Elissa), whom she associated with the founding of Rome. How did she arrive at this curious conclusion? Of course, Dido is more correctly associated with Carthage, but either way, no one knows if she is legend or a real character. Vashti, of course, has the same fate, though she is not as famous.

Another of the participants in this project wondered about the 'if' of making a Hollywood movie of The Book of Esther, and mused about Angela Jolie in the role. She came to the conclusion that this Hollywood bimbo would probably do a fine job. Let's set the record straight here. The queen of trash, Joan Collins, starred as Esther in a 1960 US/Italian production, Esther and the King, with Richard Egan as King Ahasuerus. So, the young woman's musings weren't too far off.

From this observer's point of view, The Book of Esther is not just about the deliverance of the Jews from yet another scourge, but also very much about telling women to mind their place. You become no one if you disobey your husband or father (whichever interpretation to put on the tale). Vashti, once banished, would be a non-entity. She would be soiled goods, and the idea that she could have gone home - wherever that might have been - to her family, seems highly unlikely, given the practices of the time. Even today there are societies that look negatively upon widows, divorced and single women.

As for the Book of Esther, it is a narrative and character-driven book, much in the sense of modern stories. It is neither history nor a legend. It has a well-developed plot. It has three main characters, Esther, Mordicai and Haman, and it has two lesser characters, Queen Vashti and King Ahasuerus. It is, like many modern stories, afflicted with portraying extremes: Esther and Mordicai the 'good', and Haman and to a lesser extend, Ahasuerus, the 'bad'. There is no shading allowed. There is an huge amount of bloodshed, sanctioned by the King, who has allowed the Jews to kill those who might be opposed to them. In other words, it is a good tale to tell, or in this case, to read, around the evening fire. As for Vashti, we'll never know her fate. That she refused her husband's command can be seen as an act of bravery at a time when women had no real standing in society.

So, in the scheme of things, does it really matter what happened to Queen Vashti, a minor character in a famous story? Yes, it does, especially today. If we look at the history of human advancement, wherever women are treated as nonentities, one finds extreme poverty. In countries where women have gained some measure of control over their own lives, poverty is kept to a minimum. That includes not only third world countries, but even developed countries.

To get more insight into Tapper's project and his art, go to http://www.insearchofvashti.net. It contains two sound tracks, including a CBC interview, and a short film taken outside of the ROM. The film is focused on a few people attracted to the display and listening to the soundtrack. One can also visit Tapper's website from this page.