Person Old Testament
Hammedatha
Hammedatha was the father of Haman, the Persian official who plotted to destroy the Jews in the book of Esther. Mentioned in 5 verses across 1 book, first at Esther 3:1.
Why it matters. The father of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Hammedatha
Hammedatha is mentioned in the book of Esther as the father of Haman, the primary antagonist who plotted to destroy the Jews in the Persian Empire. He is identified as an Agagite (Est.3.1), which suggests that he may have been a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite king who was defeated by King Saul (1Samuel 15). Hammedatha's son, Haman, rose to a high position in the court of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) and used his influence to persuade the king to issue a decree ordering the extermination of all Jews in the empire (Est.3.8-15). However, Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai ultimately thwarted Haman's plans, leading to his downfall and execution, along with his ten sons (Esther 7-9). The mention of Hammedatha in the book of Esther serves to provide background information on Haman's lineage and to emphasize the long-standing enmity between the Amalekites and the Israelites.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Children
- Haman
Appears in Scripture
Named in 5 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.