Potiphar ( ;

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

origin: ''pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ'' "he whom Ra gave") is a figure in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. Potiphar is possibly the same name as Potiphera () from

Late Egyptian Late Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language that was written by the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt around 1350 BC (the Amarna Period). Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptian ...

''pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ'' "he whom Ra has given." Potiphar is the captain of Pharaoh's guard who is said to have purchased

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

as a slave and, impressed by his intelligence, makes him the master of his household.

Potiphar's wife Potiphar's wife is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. She was the wife of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard in the time of Jacob and his twelve sons. According to the Book of Genesis, she falsely accused Joseph of attempted r ...

, who was known for her infidelities, took a liking to Joseph, and attempted to seduce him. When Joseph refused her advances, and ran off, leaving his outer vestment in her hands, she retaliated by falsely accusing him of trying to

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

her, and Potiphar had Joseph imprisoned. What happened to Potiphar after that is unclear; some sources identify him as Potipherah, an Egyptian priest whose daughter,

Asenath Asenath (, ; Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, ''Asenéth'') is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman. She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. There are two R ...

, marries Joseph. The false accusation by Potiphar's wife plays an important role in Joseph's narrative, because had he not been imprisoned, he would not have met the fellow prisoner who introduced him to Pharaoh. The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, gives Potiphar's wife's name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions - thus the Persian poem called

Yusuf and Zulaikha "Yusuf and Zulaikha" (the English transliteration of both names varies greatly) refers to a medieval Islamic version of the story of the prophet Yusuf and Potiphar's wife which has been for centuries in the Muslim world, and is found in many langu ...

from

Jami Nūr ad-Dīn 'Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī ( fa, نورالدین عبدالرحمن جامی; 7 November 1414 – 9 November 1492), also known as Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti, or simply as J ...

's ''

Haft Awrang ''Haft Awrang'' ( fa, هفت اورنگ, meaning "Seven Thrones") by the Persian poet Jami is a classic of Persian literature composed some time between 1468 and 1485. Jami completed the work as seven books following a masnavi format: * "Sel ...

'' ("Seven thrones"). The story became a very common subject in Western art during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, usually depicting the moment when Joseph tears himself away from the bed containing a more-or-less naked figure of Potiphar's wife.

Persian miniature A Persian miniature ( Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a '' muraqqa''. T ...

s often illustrate

's ''

'' ("Seven thrones").

Religious references

It is difficult to tie Potiphar or Joseph accurately to a particular pharaoh or time period. According to the

Jewish calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. ...

, Joseph was purchased in the year 2216, which is 1544 BC, at the end of the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...

or very beginning of the New Kingdom. The

in which the story appears (see also the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

and the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

), was the earliest written of the three: c. 600 BC during the Babylonian Exile. According to the documentary hypothesis, the story of Potiphar and his wife is credited to the

Yahwist The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist is somewhat controversial, ...

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.

Islam

The story is first related in Quran 12:21-35: An Egyptian purchases Joseph and proposes to adopt him. The Egyptian's wife endeavours to seduce Joseph but he was preserved from her enticements. She accuses Joseph of an attempt to dishonour her. The rent in his garment testifies Joseph's innocence. Azeez believes Joseph and condemns his wife. The sin of Azeez's wife becomes known in the city ( Q12:30). The wives of other noblemen, seeing Joseph's beauty, call him an angel. Azeez's wife declares her purpose to imprison Joseph unless he yield to her solicitations. Joseph seeks protection from God who hears his prayer and turns aside their snares but Joseph is imprisoned notwithstanding his innocence.

Cultural references

*In art the subject is one of the most commonly shown in the

Power of Women The "Power of Women" (german: Weibermacht) is a medieval and Renaissance artistic and literary topos, showing "heroic or wise men dominated by women", presenting "an admonitory and often humorous inversion of the male-dominated sexual hierarc ...

''topos''. * There is a Persian poem called

's ''

'' ("Seven thrones") *In ''

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature an ...

'',

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

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 Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

for all eternity. *In the

John Sayles John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and '' ...

film ''

Matewan ''Matewan'' () is a 1987 American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, and starring Chris Cooper (in his film debut), James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell and Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp in suppor ...

'',

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

plays a young minister boy who preaches the story of Potiphar to his small town. *In Andrew Lloyd Webber and

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...

's musical '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', Potiphar is a tycoon of ancient Egypt who made his wealth through buying shares in pyramids, ("Potiphar had made a huge pile, owned a large percentage of the Nile"). His wife is a seductive

man-eater A man-eater is an animal that preys on humans as a pattern of hunting behavior. This does not include the scavenging of corpses, a single attack born of opportunity or desperate hunger, or the incidental eating of a human that the animal has kil ...

. Both feature in the song "Potiphar". *In John Keats' poem, "On Fame", Keats calls Fame "Sister-in-law to jealous Potiphar". *In the animated film '' Joseph: King of Dreams'', prior to having him jailed for allegedly assaulting his wife, Potiphar takes notice of Joseph's intelligence and makes him a chief slave in his household. He orders Joseph to be executed for the attempted rape of his wife, but when she asks him to stop, Potiphar realizes Joseph was telling the truth of his innocence and instead has him jailed to save face, though he shows great disgust at his wife. Potiphar later brings Joseph to Pharaoh, who is plagued by inexplicable dreams, and expresses deep regret for having Joseph put in prison, but Joseph understands and forgives Potiphar. After Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams, Pharaoh asks Potiphar if he trusts Joseph, to which he responds that he trusts Joseph "with islife." Potiphar also is present when Joseph reunites with his brothers. *In ''

Joseph and his Brothers ''Joseph and His Brothers'' (''Joseph und seine Brüder'') is a four-part novel by Thomas Mann, written over the course of 16 years. Mann retells the familiar stories of Genesis, from Jacob to Joseph (chapters 27–50), setting it in the hi ...

'',

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

suggests that Potiphar's wife is sexually frustrated partly because Potiphar is a

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

. * In Margaret Atwood's

The Testaments ''The Testaments'' is a 2019 novel by Margaret Atwood. It is the sequel to ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (1985). The novel is set 15 years after the events of ''The Handmaid's Tale''. It is narrated by Aunt Lydia, a character from the previous novel; A ...

, the sequel to ''The Handmaid's Tale,'' Potiphor's wife is referred to in Chapter 46 of the Ardua Hall Holograph storyline as narrated by Aunt Lydia. She mentions that Dr. Grove defended himself against attempted rape charges through the Potiphar vignette. * Czechoslovak author Valdemar Vinař wrote ''La skandalo pro Jozefo,'' an original work of fiction in Esperanto, relating the story from the viewpoints of five different witnesses.

Gallery

File:Nuremberg chronicles f 27r 2.png, from the 1493 '' Nuremberg Chronicle'' File:Giuseppe e la moglie di Putifarre, Ludovico Cigoli, Roma, Galleria Borghese (1610), olio su tela.jpg, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Ludovico Cigoli File:Joseph and Potiphar's Wife - Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino, 1649 - NG Wash DC.jpg,

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vi ...

, ''Joseph and Potiphar's Wife'', 1649 File:Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo - Joseph and Potiphar's Wife - WGA16386.jpg, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo File:Jean-Baptiste Nattier - Joseph and Potiphar's Wife - WGA16449.jpg, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Jean-Baptiste Nattier Image:Joseph and Potiphar's Wife.jpg,

and Potiphar's Wife, by Guido Reni 1631 File:Rembrandt - Joseph and Potiphar's wife.jpg, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Rembrandt, 1634

References

Bibliography

* Osman, A. (1987) ''The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt'', Bear & Co.: Rochester, Vermont. . {{Authority control Ancient Egyptians Joseph (Genesis) Book of Genesis people Egypt in the Hebrew Bible False allegations of sex crimes People of the Quran

Religious references

Islam

Cultural references

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography