Pothinus, St., a prelate of the Church in the 2d century, who died a martyr, was probably born at Smyrna in A.D. 87. He was a disciple neither of Pe- ter nor of John, as some writers have asserted, but of Polyearp, bishop of Smyrna. He went to Rome with the latter while Anicetus was bishop of Rome, in 158, and was sent by that pontiff to evangelize the Gauls. Pothinus established himself at Lyons, and founded there a flourishing Church. He had presided over it twenty years when, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the persecutions against the Christians broke out with renewed violence. His hoary age did not protect the bishop from persecution. He was brought before the governor, and was asked who was the God of the Chris- tians. " If you are worthy," said the old bishop, " you will know him." He was severely beaten, and dragged, half dead, to a dismal dungeon, where he expired two days afterwards, June 2, 177. At the same time with the apostle of Lyons, forty-seven faithful sealed their faith with their blood. These were the first martyrs of the Gauls: their remains were buried beneath the altar of a church built under the invocation of the holy apostles, now consecrated to St, Nizier. The Church celebrates on June 2 the memory of the martyrs of Ly- ons. Their history was written in Greek, in the name of the faithful of the churches of Lyons, and attributed to Irenams, successor of Pothinus. It is one of the most precious monuments of the first centuries of Chris- tianity. We owe its preservation to Eusebius, who in- serted it partly in his Hist. Eccles. (lib. v, cap. i). — Hoe- fer, Xour. Biog. Gent-rate, s. v. See Longueval, Hist de VEglise Gcdlicane. liv. i ; Gallia Christiana, vol. v ; Co- lonia, Antiquites de Lyon, p. 38; Du Terns, Le Clerge de France, vol. iv; Schaff, Hist, of the Christian Church, i, 167; Mosheim, Commentaries, and Eccles. Hist. vol. i; Alzog, Kirchengesch. i. 129, 138.
Pothos (n()3-oc), a personification among the an- cient Greeks of love or desire, and usually regarded as a companion of Aphrodite.
Pot'iphar (Heb. Potiphar', ISa'lB, contraction of
S'lB h'L?'l3, Poti-pherah [q. v.] ; Sept. n«r£0p?jc), an
officer of Pharaoh, probablv the chief of his body-guard
(Gen. xxxixf 1). B.C. cir. 1890. Of the Midianitish
VIII.— F f
merchants he purchased Joseph. The keeper of the prison into which the son of Jacob was eventually cast treated him with kindness, and confided to him the management of the prison (Gen. xxvii, 36; xxxix, 1); and this confidence was afterwards sanctioned by the " captain of the guard" himself, as the officer responsi- ble for the safe custody of prisoners of state (Gen. xl, 3, 4). It is sometimes denied, but more usually main- tained, that this " captain of the guard" was the same with the Potiphar who is before designated by the same title. It is possible that this "captain of the guard" and Joseph's master were the same person. It would be in accordance with Oriental usage that offend- ers against the court, and the officers of the court, should be in custody of the captain of the guard; and that Potiphar should have treated Joseph well after having cast him into prison is not irreconcilable with the facts of the case. After having imprisoned Joseph in the first transport of his choler, he might possibly discover circumstances which led him to doubt his guilt, if not to be convinced of his innocence. The mantle left in the hands of his mistress, and so triumphantly produced against him, would, when calmly considered, seem a stronger proof of guilt against her than against him ; yet still, to avoid bringing dishonor upon his wife, and exposing her to new temptation^ he may have deemed it more prudent to bestow upon his slave the command of the state prison than to restore him to his former employment. — Kitto. See Joseph.
Potiphar is described as " an officer of Pharaoh, chief of the executioners ("^roafl "lia Sli'lQ D^lp), an Egyptian" (Gen. xxxix, 1; comp. xxxvii, 36). The word we render " officer," as in the A. V., is literally " eunuch," and the Sept. and Vulg. so translate it here (mzactxjv, eunuchus') ; but it is also used for an officer of the court, and this is almost certainly the meaning here, as Potiphar was married, which is seldom the case with eunuchs, though some, as those which have the custody of the Kaaba at Mecca, are exceptions, and his office was one which would not usually be held by persons of a class ordinarily wanting in courage, al- though here again we must except the occasional usage of Muslim sovereigns, whose executioners were some- times eunuchs, as Harun er-Rashid's Mesru, in order that they might be able to carry out the royal com- mands even in the harems of the subjects. Potiphar's office was " chief of the executioners," not, as the Sept. makes it, "of the cooks" (apxip-aytipoo), for the prison was in his house, or, at least, in that of the chief of the executioners, probably a successor of Potiphar, who com- mitted the disgraced servants of Pharaoh to Joseph's charge (xl, 2-4). He is called an Egyptian ; and it is to be noticed that his name contains that of an Egyp- tian divinity. He appears to have been a wealthy man, having property in the field as well as in the house, over which Joseph was put, evidently in an im- portant post (xxxix, 4-6). The view we have of Pot- iphar's household is exactly in accordance with the representations on the monuments, in which we see how carefully the produce of the land was registered and stored up in the house by overseers, as well as the liberty that women of all ranks enjoyed. When Joseph was accused, his master contented himself with casting him into prison (ver. 19, 20), probably being a merciful man, although he may have been restrained by God from acting more severely. After this we hear no more of Potiphar, unless, which is unlikely, the chief of the executioners afterwards mentioned be he.— Smith. If he were actually a eunuch, we may the more easily account for his wife's conduct. See Eunuch.