Potiphar

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Potiphar (or Potifar) (Hebrew: פּוֹטִיפַר / פּוֹטִיפָר, Standard Potifar Tiberian Pôṭîp̄ar / Pôṭîp̄ār ; Egyptian origin: p-di-p-rʿ ; "the one whom Ra gave.") is mentioned in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible. After Joseph had been brought to ancient Egypt, having been sold into slavery by his own brothers, Potiphar, a wealthy and perhaps prominent Egyptian, purchased Joseph as a household slave.

According to the narrative in Genesis, Joseph was eventually appointed the head of Potiphar's household, and Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph. When Joseph demurred, Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her and supported her false accusation with a piece of Joseph's garment. As a result, Joseph was sent to prison.

According to the documentary hypothesis, the story of Potiphar's wife derives from the Jahwist source, and stands in the same place that the stories of the butler and the baker and Pharaoh's dreams stand in the Elohist text. Casting Joseph as a victim of seduction, and of false witness, the text suits the Jahwist's purpose of denigrating Joseph, the Jahwist being a southern writer, and Joseph being a northern hero. This may also be the reason for the homoerotic undertones to the description of Potiphar's favouritism of Joseph, and thus for the description of Potiphar as a eunuch (saris). It should be noted, however, that the term saris may also refer to any royal official (particularly a military official) and would make more sense in the present instance as it would be unusual for a eunuch to have a wife.

The Elohist tradition still makes mention of a man named Potiphar (corrupted as Potipherah), but in that tradition, Potiphar is simply a priest of On, whose daughter Joseph marries. It is possible that the northern view of Potiphar, the view the Elohist records, is where the Jahwist derived the name and motif of the sexual connection with Joseph.

Some others have speculated that the Egyptian " p3 di p3 r` " simply indicates a native Egyptian and not a personal name at all, since the personal name Potiphar is not present in Egyptian records until well into the New Kingdom, whereas the Joseph story occurs in the Middle Kingdom, according to those scholars. However, other evidence points to the Joseph story happening in the New Kingdom, with one candidate for Joseph as Yuya. Also, Manetho recorded a vizier's, possibly Yuya's, name as "Osarseph", meaning vizier Seph. Potiphar may have been just a given name by the biblical author(s) and/or editor(s). The name Potiphar may also derive from the Egyptian words "p3 ty pr r'" meaning "one with the knowledge of the temple of Ra", or "he who has the knowledge of the temple of Ra", support for those who support the Yuya-Joseph theory, in accordance with the vizier Rekhmire's name, a candidate for Potiphar, meaning "scholar of Ra" or "he who has learned from Ra".

[edit] Non-biblical references

• In a poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven stories")
• In the mediaeval Sefer HaYasher which discusses the torah, Potiphar's wife is given the name Zuleika.
• In The Divine Comedy, Dante sees the shade of Potiphar's wife in the eighth circle of Hell. She does not speak, but Dante is told by another spirit that, along with other perjurers, she is condemned to suffer a burning fever for all eternity.
• In John Sayle's film, Matewan, Will Oldham plays a young minister boy who preaches the story of Potiphar to his small town.