"In the ancient Egyptian inscriptions we find two names that may be compared to the Biblical Phut. The tribes or peoples called the Nine Bows, IX Petu or
phut
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PHYLACTERY
IX Na-Petu, might partly or wholly represent Phut Their situation is doubtful, and they arc never found in
a geographies li-i, bul only in the general statements of the power and prowess of the kings, [f cue people be indicated by them, we may compare the Naphtuhim of the Mihle. See N'aimiti him. It seems unlikely that the Nine Bows should correspond to Phut, as their name does not occur as a geographical term in use in the directly historical inscriptions, though it may be supposed thai several well-known names there take its place as those of Individual trihes; but this is an im- probable explanation. The second name is that of Nu- bia, To-pet, "the region of the Bow," also called T6- meru-pet, "the region, the island of the Bow," whence we conjecture the name of Meroe to come. In the geo- graphical lists the latter form occurs in that of a \ pie,
Anu-meru-pet, found, unlike all others, in the lists of the southern peoples and countries as well as the north- em. The character we read Pet is an unstrung how, which until lately was read Kens, as a strung how is found following, as if a determinative, the latter word, which is a name of Nubia, perhaps, however, not in- cluding so large a territory as the names before men- tioned. The reading Kens is extremely doubtful, he- cause the word does not signify how in Egyptian, so far as we are aware, and still more because the how is used as the determinative of its name Pet, which from the Egyptian usage as to determinatives makes it almost impossible that it should be employed as a determina- tive of Kens. The name A"i».s would therefore be fol- lowed by the how to indicate that it was a part of Nu- bia. This subject may he illustrated by a passage of Herodotus, explained by .Mr. Harris, of Alexandria, if we may premise that the unstrung how is the common sign. and. like the strung how, is so used as to be the symbol of Nubia. The historian relates that the king of tin- Ethiopians unstrung a how, and gave it to the messengers of Carobyses, telling them to say that when the king of the Persians could pull so strong a bow so easily he might come against the Ethiopians with an army stronger than their forces (iii, 21, 'J-.', ed. Rawlin- son: Sir G. Wilkinson's note). For the hieroglyphic names, see Brugsch, Geogr, Inschr.
■■ lie Coptic Piphaiat must also be compared with Phut. The first syllable being the article, the word nearly resembles the Hebrew name. It is applied to the western part of Lower Egypt beyond the Delta; and Champollion conjectures it to mean the Libyan part of Egypt, so called by the Greeks, comparing the Coptic name of the similar eastern portion, PkapaMa or Tapabia, the older Arabian part of Egypt and Ara- hiau Nome i UEgypU sous U s Pharaons, ii, 28-31, 243). lie this as it may. the name seems nearer to Naphtuhim than to Phut To take a broad view of the question, all tin- names which we have mentioned may rcason-
ably be i icted with the Hebrew Phut; and it may
be Supposed that the Naphtuhim were Mi/.raites in the
territory of Phut, perhaps intermixed with | pies ol
the Latter stock. It is. however, reasonable to suppose that tie' Pet of the ancient Egyptians, as a geographical
designation, corres) Is to the Phut ofthe Bible, which
would therefore denote Nubia or the Nubians, tie for- mer, if we are strictly to follow the Egyptian usage. This identification would account for the position of Phut .alter Mi/raim m the list in Genesis, notwith- standing the order ofthe other names: lor Nubia has been from remote times a dependency of Egypt, except- ing in the short period of Ethiopian supremacy, and the longer iii f Ethiopian independence. The Egyp- tian name of Cu8h, Kesh, i- apple d to a wider region
well corresponding to Ethiopia. The governor of Nu- bia in the time of the I'haraohs was called Prince o|
AV.s-//, perhaps because his authority extended hevond
Nubia. The identification of Phut with Nubia is not repugnant to the mention in the prophets; on the con- trary, the great importance of Nubia in their tune, which comprehended that ofthe Ethiopian supremacy,
would account for their speaking of Phut as a support of Egypt, and as furnishing it with warriors. The identification with Libya has given rise to attempts to find the name in African geography, which we shall not h( re examine, as such mere similarity of sound is a mosl unsafe guide" (Smith ).
The name of Pktha, the chief deity of Memphis, ha3
been considered by some Egyptologists to he the hiero- glyphic transcription of Phut, the son of Ham. whose descendants settled in the oases of the Libyan desert, as
is demonstrated by the circumstance that tie untry
named alter Phut, in the Hebrew, is translated Libya by the Sept. i gee I leseniua, Lexicon, >. \ . -"" i. " The name Phut, in its change to Pktha" says Osburn, " has undergone an extraordinary process, highly character- istic of the modes of thought that prevailed in very an- cient limes. Written with tin- final h, which may he addeil to a Hebrew word without altering the si nse, it represents the consonants ofthe verb 'to reveal,' which in the Coptic sense is -to write hieroglyphics.' A still stranger use has been made of this pun upon the name of Phut His animal representative lias been named after the action in direct antagonism with that ofthe human original. The hieroglyphic name of the bull Apis, hp, is the Coptic verb i»K 'to hide,' which is a mere transcription ofthe ancient verb TTI. "n, with the same meaning. The comparison ofthe two groups renders this contrast very apparent. It will be seen that one group is as nearly as possible an inversion of the other. The meanings are in like manner in antith- esis. In the hull Apis, therefore, were concealed the aitriliuies which were revealed iii l'lnha" {Man. Hist. °f Egypt, (di. v).