Possible Explanations

The Greek epithet for Haman is sometimes equated with Esther’s epithet, Hadassah, connecting the Greek version to the possible pagan roots of the Purim festival and debate surrounding the Hebrew adaptation of it (Moore, Esther, xlix). It is also possible to understand “Bougaean” as a simple scribal error in translating the Hebrew “Agagite,” which would have become “agagaios” instead of “Bougaios” in Greek (Omanson, Handbook, 278). Another possibility is that Haman may have been anachronistically labeled a Bougaean in identification with the Persian general Bagoses, assassin of Artaxerxes III, with whom he may have been a co-conspirator (Jobes, “Assassination,” 76).

The Greek Esther 9:24 also describes Haman as a “Macedonian” instead of “the Agagite,” leading some scholars to conclude that the epithets (whether Bougaean, Agagite, or Macedonian) all amount to a generic, negative description of Haman—with a possible anti-Jewish nuance—translating it as a nickname: “braggart” or “bully” (Omanson, Handbook, 278; Clines, Esther Scroll, 148). The epithet “the Agagite” connects Haman to the Amalekite king, Agag, enemy of Saul, who was Mordecai’s ancestor (see 1 Sam 15:7–9).