(A·bagʹtha).

The name of one of seven court officials who ministered to the Persian king Ahasuerus, the husband of the Jewess Esther, in his palace in Shushan, then capital of Persia.​—Es 1:10.

In the King James Version, Abagtha is said to be one of seven “chamberlains,” and the marginal reading says “eunuchs.” While eunuchs were frequently used as trusted servants within royal households in Middle Eastern countries, the original Hebrew word sa·risʹ primarily has the meaning of “court official” and only secondarily has reference to a castrated person. Since these seven court officials were attendants of the king and apparently not assigned as guardians of the women (as was Hegai, the king’s eunuch mentioned at Esther 2:3), they may not have been eunuchs in the physical sense.