Pithom

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Pithom
     Egyptian, Pa-Tum, "house of Tum," the sun-god, one of the
     "treasure" cities built for Pharaoh Rameses II. by the
     Israelites (Ex. 1:11). It was probably the Patumos of the Greek
     historian Herodotus. It has now been satisfactorily identified
     with Tell-el-Maskhuta, about 12 miles west of Ismailia, and 20


     east of Tel-el-Kebir, on the southern bank of the present Suez
     Canal. Here have recently (1883) been discovered the ruins of
     supposed grain-chambers, and other evidences to show that this
     was a great "store city." Its immense ruin-heaps show that it
     was built of bricks, and partly also of bricks without straw.
     Succoth (Ex. 12:37) is supposed by some to be the secular name
     of this city, Pithom being its sacred name. This was the first
     halting-place of the Israelites in their exodus. It has been
     argued (Dr. Lansing) that these "store" cities "were residence
     cities, royal dwellings, such as the Pharaohs of old, the Kings
     of Israel, and our modern Khedives have ever loved to build,
     thus giving employment to the superabundant muscle of their
     enslaved peoples, and making a name for themselves."
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Pithom, their mouthful; a dilatation of the mouth