The ' captain of the guard ' was not a specially Egyptian ollice ; the same title (with only 3T for V) being used also of a cliief otlicer of Ncbuciiad- nezzar ('2 K 25" al. ; see above, ii. 708" n. }). The number of court- and state-otiicials mentioned in Egyji. inscriptions is very great (Ebers, .r*'^. u. die Bb. Mose's, p. 300 ; and esp. Hrugsch, Die ^iji/ptologie, 1889, pp. 213 f., 222-227, '243 f., 299- 301); but the office attributed to Potijiliar does not ajipear to have been definitely ideiitilicd : per- haps it was that of ' the general and eldest of the court' of the Hood-papyrus, an important official, whom Brugsch (p. 213) and Maspero (Juurn. As. 188H (xi.), p. 273) identify witli the apxio-u^aro- (j>v\a^, often mentioned in the Ptolemaic period ; see Grcnfell, Greek Pap. 1890, 38. 1, 4'2. 1 ; .M. L. Strack, Die dyn. der Plul. 1897, p. 21911'., In.scr. No.s. 77 ( = CIG 4677), 95, 97 (VIU 2617), 108 (CJG 4893), 109, 111, 171; Jos. Ant. xil. ii. 4 (cf. 2).* Eunuchs were apparently not as common in ancient Egypt as in other countries, though they seem to be represented on the iiioiiuments (Ebers, I.e. p. 298) ; it is, however, possible that saris is used in the more general sense of officer, — neither the 'captain of the body-guard,' nor the chief butler or baker (to both of whom the same term is applied in 40-- 'j, hiilding a kind of office which would 1)0 very naturally deputed to a eunuch (thougli cf. Jos. Ant. XVI. viii. 17, — cup- bearers at Herod's court): Ges., however (Thes, p. 973), doutits this general application of tlie term ; and LXX, at any rate, have airabuv in 37** and eivovxo^ in 39'. If the name Potiphar did not occur in the original text of ch. 39, the question of his marriage does not arise ; it may be men- tioned, however, that (assuming the word .«jn.j to have its ])roper force) cases are on record, in both ancient and modern times, of eunuchs being mairied (IJurckhardt, Arabia, i. 290; Ebers, p. 299).
On the narrative of ch. 39 enough has been said above, vol. ii. jip. 708", 772. It is remarkable that
•Of course D'nDC.I lb' means properly 'chief (or superin- tendent)of the Blaughtcrers((W cooks (IS 923])' ; and, in npiteof 2 I\ 'i6s etc., it vii'^)ht in Genesis have this meaning (cf. L.XX etpxtf'^yfipo^)'- in this case, the expression miglit(as Mr. firittlth snggcHls) denote the 'royal cook,' an otlicial who acquired at Tliebes in tlie New Einiiire many important adniinislriitive functions— -lea<iing cxpe<litions to tlie quarries, investigating tomb-robberies, etc. (see Eniian, .J'lgiipten, Index, t.v. "Truch- scss ' ; and comp. above, vol. ii. p. 774, the note on Ab).
24
POTIPHERA
POTTER, POTTERY
names of the form ' Potiiihera,' ' Potipliar' (if this be riglitly regarded as really the same name), apijear lirst in the 2'Jnd dyu. (llie dyu. of ShishaU),* and are frequent only in the 20th dyu. (B.C. Glii- 5i')); it is thus at least doubtful how far either one or the other really springs from the age of Joseph (see, further, vol. L BOo'', ii. 775*).
S. R. Driver. POTIPHERA (!)"!? -c^E ; LXX A n£Tpe<^7]s, E Luc. Tlereippiji -.f Vulg. Pulip/uire; on the etym. see under PoTirilAR). — The priest — i.e., no doubt, the chief priest— of On (which see), — i.e. of the famous and ancient temple of the Sun, at On, — whose daughter Asenath was given by Pharaoh to Joseph for a wife (Gn 41«- <" 46-"}. S. K. Driver.
POTSHERD.— This is the translation in Job 2^, Ps 22'^, Pr •iG-', and Is 45" "* of b-in hercs, which is rendered ' sherd ' in Is 30", Ezk 23^, but elsewhere (usually with •'??) ' earthen vessel.' Potsherd occurs also in Sir 22' as tr. of oaTpaKov, which is the LXX word for herci in Job 2', Ps 22'S Pr 26-^ Is 30". The Eng. word, which is a sherd (shred) or frag- ment of pottery, is illustrated by Skelton's (Skeat's Specimens, 143) —
* But this madde Amalecke, Lyke to a Muuielek, He regardeth lonles No more than potshordefl ' — '
and Spenser, FQ vi. i. 37—
• They hew'd their helmes, and plates asunder brake. As they had potshares bene.'
In translating, the distinction has to be made be- tween ' earthen vessel ' and ' fragment of earthen vessel.' The latter is the meaning, according to Oxf. Hcb. Lex., in Job 2^ 4P-, Is 30", Ezk 23*". RV makes two changes. Job 41^" AV ' sharp stones are under him ' is changed into * his underparts are like sharp potsherds'; Pr 26^ 'a potsherd' becomes ' an earthen vessel.' J. HASTINGS.
POTTAGE (TiJ naztd, LXX liti?A«i, Vulg. mil- mentum). — A kind of thick broth made by boiling lentils or other vegetables with meat or suet, usually in water, but sometimes in milk. Robin- son says that lentil pottage made in this manner is very palatable, .and that he ' could very well con- ceive, to a weary hunter, faint with hunger, they (lentils) might be quite a dainty ' (i. 167). Thomson speaks of its appetizing fragrance, which it dili'uses far and wide ; and he gives an account of a meal in which this pottage was eaten out of a s.aucepan placed on the giound in the middle of the com- pany, a cake of bread, doubled spoon - f.ashion, being di]iped in the pot to carry tne pottage to the mouth. ' European children born in Palestine are extravagantly fond of it' {L. and B. i. 252). The pottage prepared by Jacob was of the red lentil (see Food, vol. ii. 27), hence Esau's emphatic ' the red, this red ' (Gn 25*"). For a mess ot this, called in He 12'" (Spua-n fila ('a mess of meat'), Esau sold his birthright. Labat in his account of the visit of the Chevalier d'Arvieu:; to Hebron in 1060 says that at the entrance to St. Helena's Church, now a mosque, there is a great kitchen where pottage is daily prepared of lentils and