PHITHOM - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. IX, p. 792

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

PHITHOM. - Città dell'Egitto settentrionale (ebr. Pitôm; egiz. pr-jim; copto pêbôm o pêbôm; Settanta Iêbôm). Secondo Ex. 1, 11 un re egiziano, presumibilmente Ramses II, avrebbe fatto costruire questa città ad uso di magazzino, insieme con altra, dagli Ebrei stanziati in Egitto; Erodoto (II, 58) la ricorderebbe con il nome Πάτουντος 'Αραβίας, perché nelle sue NECHAO (v.) fra il Nilo e il Mar Rosso. La Peregrinatio di Eteria la nomina Patumos o Phitona civitas.

Si è a lungo discusso sulla sua precisa ubicazione: la maggior parte degli studiosi oggi propendono, dopo gli scavi eseguiti da E. Naville (1883), per la località di Tell el-Mashûtah, presso la stazione ferroviaria di Abû Suejr; altri identifica P. con Thou dell'Anonimo Piacentino, ora Tell Abû Sulajmân; altri con Tell ar-Ratâbah.

BIBL.: E. Naville, The store city of P., 4a ed., Londra 1903; J. Lieblein, The Exodus of the Hebrews, in Proc. Soc. bibl. arch., 29 (1907), p. 214 sgg.; C. Sourdille, La durée et l'étendue du voyage d'Hérodote en Egypte, Parigi 1910, p. 3 sgg.; C. Lagier, s. V. in DB, V (1912), col. 322 sgg.; V. L. Trumpier, The route of the Exodus, in Pal. expl. fund. Quarter. stat., 47 (1915), pp. 22 sgg., 152 sgg.; J. Cledat, Notes sur l'isthme de Susz, in Bull. Inst. franc. arch. orient., 18 (1921), p. 175 sgg.; 23 (1924), p. 46 sgg.; P. Mallon, Les Hébreux en Egypte, Roma 1922, p. 131 sgg.; A. H. Gardiner, The geographical history of the Exodus, in Rec. Chem. poll., Parigi 1922, p. 203 sgg.; id., The geographical history of the Exodus, in Ann. survey to prof. Naville and others, in Journ. Egypt. arch., 10 (1924), p. 87 sgg.; H. M. Wiener, P. and Raamses, in Anc. Egypt., 8 (1923), p. 75 sgg.; A. Ermann-H. G.

Hellmann) con il grande re Theglathphalasar (745-727), vero fondatore dell'Impero neo-assiro.

The controversy, which flared up more intensely from 1869 to 1887, can be considered concluded. In 1887, in fact, Pinches published in London the Neo-Babylonian Chronicle, whose column I, lines 17-24 is parallel to the Neo-Babylonian Kinglist, column IV, lines 5-8: in it the name of Theglathphalasar (q.v.) appears, to which in the Kinglist corresponds that of Pulu, assumed however only after the victory over Ukin-zér in 729 when he entered Babylon and at the New Year of 728 was taken by the hands of Bel. He became king of Babylon according to all the necessary rites, but to avoid the susceptibilities of the rival city he contented himself with a merely personal union and with a distinction of names. Bohl, however, along with others, thinks that Pulu was his civil name, later changed to that of the great Theglathphalasar when he usurped the throne of Assyria (745): the matter is not certain. With R. Thiele and others, it can be said that 1 Chr 5:26 confirms rather the identification of Theglathphalasar with P., the verb “deported” being in the singular and the explanatory force of the conjunction “waw”: A. Vaccari translates in the same sense: “The God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Ful, king of Assur, that is, of Telget-Falansar...”; others think it is a gloss.

Bibl.: R. Lepsius, Über den chronolog. Wert der asyrischen Eponymen, Berlin 1869, p. 56 (was the first to demonstrate the identification); E. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, Leipzig 1872, pp. 124-34 (and in the other editions and works); F. Vigouroux, La Bible et les découvertes modernes, 6th ed., Paris 1896, pp. 497-509 (under the controversy); O. Hellmann, De chronolog. Librorum Regum, Rome 1914, pp. 560-62; F. M. T. Böhl, Jäarbücher... ex oriente lux., 4 (1936), p. 264; A. Vaccari, La Sacra Bibbia..., III, Florence 1948, p. 35; R. Thiele, The mysterious numbers of the Hebrew Kings, Chicago 1951, pp. 75-77.