Given that it's the Jewish holiday of Purim tonight and tomorrow, the story got me thinking.
The Purim story is almost certainly fiction. However, how would the Jewish community worldwide have developed if major state-sponsored pogroms occurred under Xerxes, at the insistence of one of his courtiers?
Things to think about:
1. The pogroms need not be only against Jews.
2. There are likely assimilated Jews all over the place, possibly including the court (the royal harem, like in the story, is unlikely)
3. The policy may or may not be continued under the next king.