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Haman
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Haman is the vizier of the Persian king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, elevated above every other official and furious that Mordecai the Jew alone refuses to bow to him. He persuades the king to authorize the destruction of the Jewish people throughout the empire and casts lots, purim, to fix the date, then has gallows built specifically to hang Mordecai on. The plot collapses in a single night: the king, unable to sleep, has the court records read to him and learns Mordecai once saved his life, and Queen Esther, herself a Jew hidden from the king, exposes Haman's plan at a banquet. Haman is hanged on the gallows he built for his enemy, and the reversal of his plot against the Jewish people is the origin of the festival of Purim.
Facts
Identity
Also Known AsHaman the Agagite 1Tradition: Judaism Attestation
HistoricityLegendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record 1 Historicity DetailThe text calls him an Agagite, a title that echoes King Agag of the Amalekites whom Saul defeated centuries earlier in the book of Samuel, and traditional Jewish reading treats the conflict between him and Mordecai, himself of Saul's own tribe of Benjamin, as a symbolic continuation of Israel's ancient enmity with Amalek rather than a coincidence of naming. 1 Attributions
Mythic AssociationThe Book of Esther recounts his plot to exterminate the Jewish people of the Persian Empire in a single day, foiled by Queen Esther and Mordecai, an event commemorated annually in the Jewish festival of Purim. 1 Life
Office HeldChief vizier to King Ahasuerus of Persia, seated above all the other officials 1Tradition: Judaism Manner of DeathExecuted 1Tradition: Judaism Manner of Death DetailHanged on the gallows he had built to hang Mordecai 1Tradition: Judaism Position Profile
Key TextBook of Esther 1Tradition: Judaism Practice
LineageThe Book of Esther identifies him as an Agagite, a descendant of King Agag of Amalek, linking his enmity toward the Jewish people to the ancient conflict between Israel and Amalek that the Book of Samuel records centuries earlier. 1 Terminology
Term CoinedHis name became proverbial in Jewish tradition as the archetype of an enemy bent on the destruction of the Jewish people, and the festival of Purim ritually blots it out with noisemakers and stamping feet every time it is read aloud during the public reading of the scroll of Esther. 1 Learn More
The Plot Against the Jews
Haman the Agagite rises to be the highest official under King Ahasuerus, and the book of Esther says every servant at the king's gate bows to him except one. Mordecai, a Jew who sits at that gate, will not kneel, and when Haman learns the reason is Mordecai's people rather than the man alone, he decides the insult calls for the destruction of every Jew in the empire, not just the one who gave it. He casts lots, called purim, to choose an auspicious date nearly a year off, then tells the king that a certain scattered people keeps its own laws and obeys none of his, and offers a vast sum into the royal treasury to fund their destruction.
Ahasuerus hands Haman his signet ring without asking which people is meant, and the decree goes out to every province in the empire's own scripts and languages, that on a single day all Jews, young and old, women and children, are to be killed and their property seized. Mordecai and the wider Jewish community respond with mourning and fasting, and Mordecai sends word to Queen Esther, his cousin and ward, that she has to intervene with the king even though appearing before him unsummoned carries a death penalty of its own.
The Reversal
The book of Esther turns on a night the king cannot sleep and has the palace chronicles read aloud to pass the time, and the reader happens on the record that Mordecai once uncovered an assassination plot against Ahasuerus and was never rewarded for it. The very next morning Haman arrives at court to ask permission to hang Mordecai on gallows he has already built fifty cubits high, and before he can ask, the king asks him what should be done for a man the king wishes to honor.
Haman, assuming he means himself, describes an elaborate public procession, and is then ordered to lead Mordecai through the city dressed exactly as he described. At a second banquet Esther finally names Haman as the author of the decree against her own people, and the king, enraged, has him hanged on the gallows built for Mordecai that same day. The original decree cannot be revoked once sealed with the king's ring, so a second decree lets the Jews defend themselves when the day comes, and their survival and reversal of fortune becomes the festival of Purim, named for the lots Haman cast.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Purim takes its name from the purim, the lots, Haman casts to set the date of his planned massacre, and commemorates its reversal.
This source names Haman directly: "for "Roundel with the Hanging of Haman," a stained glass roundel in the style of Jan Swart van Groningen, ca."
This source names Haman directly: "horseback in royal robes by his rival Haman, who is forced to proclaim his honor."
Attested In
Antagonist of the Book of Esther within the Ketuvim.
Belongs to Tradition
Depicted In
The Met's own title for this roundel names the subject and his fate outright, "the Hanging of Haman," a direct identification rather than a bare thematic tag.
Opposes
Haman's fury at Mordecai's refusal to bow is the immediate cause of his plot against the Jewish people, and Mordecai is the man he builds gallows for.
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