The term
Agagite is used in the
Book of Esther as a description of
Haman. The term is understood to be an
ethnonym although nothing is known with certainty about the people designated by the name. As all the events of the
Book of Esther occur inside of
Persian empire, it is considered likely that the term refers to people from one town which is called
Agag & a well known
Midrashic explanation of the term relates it to King
Agag of the
Amalekites whereby it is viewed as meaning either a literal descendant of Agag or an
antisemite, the Amalekites having come to be symbolic of the antithesis of
Judaism.