Reference: Haman

HAMAN (Ad. Est 12:6, 16:10, 17 Aman), the son of Hammedatha, appears in the Bk. of Est. as the enemy of the Jews, and the chief minister of Ahasuerus. On his plot against the Jews and its frustration by Esther see art. Esther.

In later times, at the Feast of Purim, it seems to have been customary to hang an effigy of Haman; but as the gibbet was sometimes made in the form of a cross, riots between Jews and Christians were the result, and a warning against insults to the Christian faith was issued by the emperor Theodosius ii. (Cod. Theod. xvi. viii. 18; cf. 21).