Das ExilSon of HamanEnemy of the Jewish peoplec. 480s BC
Aridata is known exclusively from the book of Esther, where he is listed among the ten sons of Haman – the man who conspired to exterminate the Jews in the Persian Empire under King Ahasuerus. After Queen Esther revealed her father's conspiracy and Haman himself was executed, a new royal decree was issued granting the Jews the right to self-defense. On the 13th of Adar, Aridata and his nine brothers fell as the Jews fought back against those who sought their harm. At Esther's further request, the bodies of the ten brothers were publicly hanged in Susa. In the narrative arc of the Purim story, the fate of Haman's sons represents a complete reversal: from planned genocide to deliverance and triumph for the Jewish community.
Haman, the father of Aridata, was promoted to the highest position among the king's officials. This gave the entire family, including Aridata, a privileged status in the Persian Empire.
1After these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, advancing him and setting his seat above all the officials who were with him.
2All the king's servants at the King's Gate knelt and bowed down to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel or bow down.
Driven by hatred toward Mordecai, Haman devised a plan to destroy all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire—a plan that directly involved the fate of his own family.
6Yet he thought it beneath him to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who Mordecai's people were. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast the pur—that is, the lot—before Haman, from day to day and from month to month, and the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws differ from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so it is not in the king's interest to tolerate them.
9If it pleases the king, let an order be written that they be destroyed, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who administer the king's affairs, to be brought into the royal treasury."
Queen Esther revealed Haman's evil plot to King Ahasuerus and pleaded for the salvation of the Jewish people, marking the turning point for Haman's family.
2And again on this second day, as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done."
3Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be granted me as my petition, and my people as my request.
4For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as slaves and servant girls, I would have kept silent, for such trouble would not be worth disturbing the king."
9Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "Look, the gallows Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke up for the king's good, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits high."[fn] The king said, "Hang him on it."
Aridata was killed along with his nine brothers when the Jews defended themselves against their enemies on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, in accordance with the king's decree.
At Esther's request, King Ahasuerus ordered that the bodies of Haman's ten sons, including Aridata, be hanged on gallows as a public sign of victory over the enemies of the Jews.
13Esther answered, "If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Susa be allowed to act tomorrow as well, according to today's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows."