Poti-Phera

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POTI-PHERA

POTI-PHERA (Heb. פּוֹטִי פֶרַע), father-in-law of *Joseph. According to Genesis 41:45, 50, and 46:20, Joseph was married to *Asenath the daughter of Poti-Phera, "the priest of On." Since On, the city of *Heliopolis, was the center of the Egyptian solar cult, the "priest of On" could hardly have been any other than the high priest of the sun god Re. The name Poti-Phera contains the same underlying elements as that of Joseph's former master, *Potiphar, but in a transcription more fully and more accurately reflecting the original Egyptian form.

[Alan Richard Schulman]

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