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Journey of a Passage

Esther 3:1 (and Greek 9:24; Addition E)

Agagite, Bougaean or Macedonian?

The Hebrew calls Haman "the Agagite," recalling Agag of Amalek (1 Samuel 15). The Old Greek calls him a "Bougaean" (library's Greek: "le Bugéen"), and later a "Macedonian"; Addition E makes him a Macedonian traitor.

Read Esther 3:1 (and Greek 9:24; Addition E) in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original EstherComposed c. 400–150 BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Esther
Greek
  1. Old Greek Esther (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd–1st century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of Esther, freely, with additions
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day (additions from Greek, appended)
English
  1. King James Apocrypha, "The rest of Esther"1611Translated from Greek Esther (via the Vulgate's order)
  2. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Composed c. 400–150 BC (debated)

    Original Esther

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. No copy of Esther has been identified among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

  2. Translated c. 2nd–1st century BC

    Old Greek Esther (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Esther, freely, with additions

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Aman, fils d'Amadathe le Bugéen… (later) Aman, fils d'Amadathe le Macédonien

    "Macedonian" at its 9:23. Old Greek via Giguet's French (its own verse numbers); not checked against Hanhart's Göttingen edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day (additions from Greek, appended)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Aman filium Amadathi, qui erat de stirpe Agag

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Esther

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    הָמָן בֶּן־הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי

    Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite

  5. 1611

    King James Apocrypha, "The rest of Esther"

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Greek Esther (via the Vulgate's order)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text.

    For Aman, a Macedonian, the son of Amadatha, being indeed a stranger from the Persian blood

    Addition E (KJV Apocrypha 16:10).

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite

What changed, and why

The Hebrew sets Mordecai (descendant of Kish) against Haman (Agagite), replaying Saul and Agag. Greek translators in a Hellenistic world rewrote Haman as a Macedonian, the enemy of their own day. "Bougaean" may be a Greek term of abuse (bougaios, "braggart") or a garbled gentilic.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Greek calls Haman a Macedonian.
  • DisputedHaman was a descendant of Agag king of Amalek.

Sources

Related lessons

  • Haman, the Lot and the Death Decree →The king promotes Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite above all the princes. Everyone at the king's gate bows to him except Mordecai, who has told them he is a Jew. Haman decides to destroy all Mordecai's people. In Nisan of the twelfth year the lot (pur) is cast before him and falls on Adar. He offers the king 10,000 talents of silver; the king gives him his signet ring. On 13 Nisan letters go out in every language: on 13 Adar, kill all the Jews, young and old, women and children, and plunder their goods. "The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed."