son of Hammedatha, the Amalekite, of the race of Agag; or, according to other copies, son of Hamadath the Bugean or Gogean, that is, of the race of Gog; or it may be read, Haman the son of Hamadath, which Haman was Bagua or Bagoas, eunuch, that is, officer to the king of Persia. We have no proof of Haman's being an Amalekite; but Esther 3:1 , reads of the race of Agag. In the apocryphal Greek, Esther 9:24 , and the Latin, Esther 16:10, he is called a Macedonian, animo et gente Macedo. King Ahasuerus, having taken him into favour, promoted him above all the princes of his court, who bent the knee to him (probably prostrated themselves wholly before him, as to a deity) when he entered the palace: this Mordecai the Jew declined, for which slight, Haman plotted the extirpation of the whole Jewish nation; which was providentially prevented. He was hanged on a gibbet fifty cubits high, which he had prepared for Mordecai; his house was given to Queen Esther; and his employments to Mordecai. His ten sons were likewise executed. See ESTHER .