Hammedatha

Hammedatha is named in the book of Esther only as the father of Haman the Agagite. He never speaks, never acts, and never appears apart from his son's patronymic. The name functions as a genealogical tag — five times the narrative pauses to call Haman "the son of Hammedatha," locating him in an Agagite line and, by that lineage, marking him as the inherited adversary of the Jews.

The Patronymic at Haman's Promotion

Hammedatha enters the story the moment his son is elevated. "After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him" (Es 3:1). The patronymic accompanies the promotion — Haman is not introduced first by office but by descent. When the king then transfers his signet to enact Haman's decree, the same formula returns: "And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy" (Es 3:10). The seal of state passes into the hand of "the son of Hammedatha," and the patronymic now stands beside the title "the Jews' enemy."

Esther's Petition Names the Line

When Esther approaches the king to undo the decree, she does not name Haman alone; she names the line. "Let it be written to reverse the letters, the plot of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces" (Es 8:5). The reversal is aimed precisely at what Hammedatha's son had set in motion — the patronymic identifies the author of the letters that must now be undone.

The Fall of Hammedatha's House

The patronymic returns at the moment Haman's house is cut off. On the day appointed for the destruction of the Jews, the Jews' enemies fall instead, and "the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews' enemy, they slew; but on the spoil they didn't lay their hand" (Es 9:10). Hammedatha, named only ever as a father, is named here as his grandsons die.

The Purim Etiology

The festival summary at the close of the book preserves the patronymic one last time, embedded in the official memory of why the days are kept. The reversal is recounted "because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them" (Es 9:24). The name that began as a notice of promotion becomes a fixture in the etiology of Purim — Hammedatha's son, the Agagite, the enemy, whose plot turned upon his own house.