Esther becomes queen of Persia
After Queen Vashti refused to appear at his banquet, King Ahasuerus chose a young Jewish orphan, Esther, raised by her cousin Mordecai, as his new queen.
The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Esther 2:17 (World English Bible)
Esther kept her Jewish identity secret on Mordecai's advice. Mordecai, sitting at the king's gate, uncovered a plot to assassinate the king, and it was recorded in the royal chronicles, a detail that would matter later.
Places
Dating notes
Ussher identifies Ahasuerus with Darius I and Vashti with his wife Atossa, which places Esther's crowning (his seventh year, Esther 2:16) in 514 BC. Most scholars today, including most conservatives, identify Ahasuerus with Xerxes I (Greek form of the Persian Khshayarsha), which would place it about 479 BC.