Phrygians or Cataphrygians (q. v.), a sect in the 2d century, so called as being of the country of Phrygia. They were orthodox in everything, setting aside this, that they took Montanus for a prophet, and Priscilla and Maximilla for true prophetesses, to be con- sulted in everything relating to religion ; as supposing that the Holy Spirit had abandoned the Church. See
MoNTANlSTS.
Phtha or Ptah, the supreme god of the ancient Egyptians, in the first four dynasties or successions of kings, extending about 321 years. This god seems, however, in later times to have been degraded from his high position and become a secondary god. No image of this, nor indeed of any other god or goddess, is found upon the most ancient Egyptian monuments. The worship of Phtha passed from Egypt into Greece, and was altered into Hepka>stus. " When, in later times," says Mr. Osburn, in his Religions of (lie World, •• pictures and images of the gods made their appearance on the ruins of ancient Egypt, Ptah was represented as a tall youth, with handsome features, and a green complexion, denoting the swarthy, sallow hue which the burning sun of Africa had already impressed upon the skins of Phut and his descendants. He was swathed in white linen like a mummy to denote that he had been dead, but his hands had burst through the cerements, and grasped many symbols, to denote that he has risen again. This god is made the son of many divine parents, accord- ing tn the laterfables, both of the monuments and of the Greek authors, most of them prompted by political mo- tives; but not on the monuments of all epochs. The im- age of Ptah of Memphis is enclosed in a shrine, to denote that he claimed affinity with no other god, and that his real parentage was unknown or forgotten."
Phthai todocetae (from (pSaproc, destructible, and cokUo, to seem). One of the numerous Monophysite sects. They were so called because they maintained that the body of Christ was truly corruptible before his resurrection. They were opposed to another sect which affirmed that the body of Jesus was rendered incor- ruptible in consequence of the divine nature blended with it: these were called Aphthartodocetae, Phanta- siasts, etc., and were likewise divided into parties, some of which debated whether the body of Christ was Created or uncreated. See Aphthartodocetae ; Mo-
NOPHYSITES.
Phthartolatrae ((praproQ, destructible, and \a- rpevw, to worship), a term of reproach applied to the Severians (q. v.) in the 6th century, who maintained that Christ's body was corruptible of itself, but by reason of the Godhead dwelling in it was never corrupted.
Phud (*oi''0. an incorrect Greek form (Jud. ii, 23) of the Heb. name (Ezek. xxvii, 10) Phut (q. v.).
Phu'rall (Heb. Purak', iTnQ, bough; Sept. ®apa), the servant of Gideon, who went with him by night to spy the camp of the Midianites (Judg. vii, 10, 1 1 ). B.C. 13(32.
Phu'i'im (Esth. xi, 1). See Pi-rim.
Phut (Heb. Put, B*IB ; Sept. $ovS or $ovt, but usu- ally A(/3jifc, and so Josephus, A nt. i, 6, 2), the name of a people mentioned in connection with Mizraim and Cush as third among the descendants of Ham (Gen. x. 0; '•Put," 1 Chron. i, 8), elsewhere applied to an African
country or people (Jer. xlvi, 0 ; Ezek. xxvii, 40 ; xxx, 5; xxxviii, 5; "Put," Nah. iii, 9. Comp. also Jud. ii, 23, in the Greek and Syriac). In all of these passages Phut or Put is named with Cush, Ludim, and Lubim. Putites served in the Egyptian army (Jer. I. c; comp. Ezek. xxx, 5), and the Tyrian navy (Ezek. xxvii, 20), and are numbered in the army of Gog (Ezek. xxxviii, 5). Josephus (Ant. i, 0,2) understands here the Mau- ritanians. He also mentions a river bearing the same name, in the territory of the Mauri, which is called Fut by Pliny (p. 242, ed. Hard.), and flows into the At- lantic. Ptolemy (iv, 1, 3) calls it Phihoulh (long. 7\ , la't. 30i°), in Mauritania Tingitana (comp. Michael. Spi- ed, i, 160 sq.). These traces of the name, however, are not needed. That it is a name of Libya is sufficiently obvious from the Sept. in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and from the fact that Faiat is a Coptic name for Libya in Egypt — that is, for that part of Lower Egypt which lies west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, so called (see Gesen. Thesaur. ii, 1093). More recently Hitzig would identify with Put the tribe of Fuiiiju, mentioned in the inscriptions at the tomb of Darius, and refers to Putea (Uovrta), a city on the west bank of the river Triton in Northern Africa (Ptol. iv, 3, 39). But no weight can be given to his remark that a people which served in the Egyptian army in foreign expeditions must not be sought in Western Africa. — Winer, ii, 229. See Libya.
"In the above genealogical lists Phut follows Cush and Mizraim, and precedes Canaan. The settlements of Cush extended from Babylonia to Ethiopia above Egypt, those of Mizraim stretched from the Philistine territory through Egypt and along the northern coast of Africa to the west; and the Canaanites were estab- lished at first in the land of Canaan, but afterwards were spread abroad. The order seems to be ascending towards the north : the Cushite chain of settlements being the most southern, the Mizraite chain extending above them, though perhaps through a smaller region, at least at the first, and the Canaanites holding the most northern position. We cannot place the tract of Phut out of Africa, and it would seem that it was al- most parallel to that of the Mizraites, as it could not be farther to the north: this position would well agree with Libya. But it must be recollected that the or- der of the nations or tribes of the stocks of Cush. Miz- raim, and Canaan is not the same as that we have in- ferred to be that of the principal names, and that it is also possible that Phut may be mentioned in a supple- mentary manner, perhaps as a nation or country de- pendent on Egypt. The few mentions of Phut in the Bible clearly indicate, as already remarked, a country or people of Africa, and, it must be added, probably not far from Egypt. It is noticeable that they occur only in the list of Noah's descendants and in the prophetical Scriptures. Isaiah probably makes mention of Phut as a remote nation or country, where the A. V. has Pul, as in the Masoretic text (Isa. lxvi, 19). Nahum, warn- ing Nineveh by the fall of No-Amon, speaks of Cush and Mizraim as the strength of the Egyptian city, and Phut and Lubim as its helpers (iii, 9). Jeremiah tells of Phut in Necho's army with Cush and the Ludim (xlvi, 9). Ezekiel speaks of Phut with Persia and Lud as supplying mercenaries to Tyre (xxvii, 10), and as sharing with Cush, Lud, and other helpers of Egypt, in her fall (xxx, 5); and again, with Persia, and Cush, perhaps in the sense of mercenaries, as warriors of the army of Gog (xxxviii, 5). From these passages we cannot infer anything as to the exact position of this country or people; unless indeed in Nahum, Cush and Phut, Mizraim and Lubim, are respectively connected, j which might indicate a position south of Egypt. The serving in the Egyptian army, and importance of Phut to Egypt, make it reasonable to suppose that its posi- tion was very near.