The Definition of the word Pithom

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."