BAGOAS.A eunuch in the service of Holofernes (Jdt_12:11; Jdt_12:13; Jdt_12:15; Jdt_13:3; Jdt_14:14).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
ba-gō?as Βαγώας, Bagō̇aš: The eunuch in charge of the household of Holofernes whom the latter engaged to bring Judith to his palace (Judith 12:11ff; 13:1, 3; 14:14). Compare JUDITH.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Bagoas
(Βαγώας), the eunuch (or chamberlain) who had charge of the tent of Holofernes, and introduced Judith (Jdt_12:11; Jdt_12:13; Jdt_12:15; Jdt_13:1; Jdt_13:3; Jdt_14:14). The name is said (Pott, Etymol. Forsch. 1, 37) to be equivalent to eunuch in Persian (Pliny Hist. Nat. 13:4, 9), and, as such, was probably a title of office rather than a personal appellation (see Quintil. v. 12; comp. Burmann ad Ovid. Amo_2:2; Amo_2:1). Accordingly, we find the name often recurring in Eastern history (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v.) even so late as that of the chief eunuch of Herod's harem, who was put to death for intriguing with the Pharisees (Josephus, Ant. 17:2, 4 ad fin.).
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.