Aman (Heb. Hāman, probably of Persian origin: «Illustrious», «Esteemed»; possibly connected to the Elamite god Himmān)

AMAN (Heb. Hāman, probably of Persian origin: “illustrious,” “esteemed”; perhaps connected with the Elamite god Himman). - All-powerful minister at the court of Assuero (Xerxes I, 486–65) at Susa. Son of Hammedata (a Persian name; Vulgate Amadathi), he is described (Esth. 3, 1.10) in the Hebrew text as Agagite, in the Greek text as Βουγάλος. The first appellation is now generally interpreted as geographical (from Agag, a region of Media discovered by recent excavations); others, with the ancients, see in it a patronymic term: “descendant of Agag,” king of the Amalekites (T.Sam. 15, 8). Nor is the Greek appellation (already found in Homer, Iliade, XIII, 824; Odissea, XVIII, 79, in the sense of “braggart, swaggerer”) clear. Proud and ambitious, A. hated the Jew Mardocheo because, for religious reasons, he refused him the honour, decreed by the king, of genuflection, according to Persian custom. But Esther thwarted the plans of A., who wished to crucify Mardocheo and kill all the Jews; indeed, A. was compelled to render public honours to Mardocheo and, on the day he had appointed for the slaughter of the Jews (13 Adar), he was hanged by Assuero as a traitor, in his 12th year of reign (474 B.C.). The vengeance of the Jews was then extended to all his family and to all who persecuted them (Esth. 3, 1-9, 16). V. PURIM.