POTIPHERA

POTIPHERA.— Gn 41«s- so 462". The consonants in the Hebrew are an almost exact transcript of the Egyp. Peteprl, ' Given by the Sun-god,' a late name found from the 22nd Dyn. onwards; only the letter w (represented by Eng. o) is puzzling. Potiphera, father of Joseph's wife Asenath (wh. see), was priest of On, i.e. probably high priest of Re, the Sun-god, in On. He would thus be the head of the most learned sacerdotal college in the country, and of high rank. F. Ll. Griffith.

POTSHERD. — See Pottery.

POTTAGE.— See Food, 3.

POTTER, POTTERY.— The artificer (yStsSr) is first named in 2 S 17^*. This implies the use of pottery at an earlier period. The ancient Egyptians were familiar with its manufacture (Wilk. Anc. Egyp. ii. 190 ff.), and Israel could not be entirely ignorant of it. During their nomad life, however, such brittle material would be little serviceable, and its use would be reduced to a minimum — skins, vessels of wood, metal, etc., being preferred. Skins for water, wine, etc., have been in use at all times, down to the present day (Gn 21", Jg 4", 1 S 16^° etc.); but we also find the earthenware pitcher, or jar ikad), similarly employed (Gn 24", Jg 7'6, 1 K 17" [EV 'barrel'] etc.). Only after settle-ment in Palestine was the art developed to any extent by Israelites. In the later writings the potter is fre-quently referred to (Ps 2', Is 29", Jer 18^ etc.).

The potter first kneaded the clay with his feet (Is 4is«), then shaped the vessel on the wheel (Jer 18'). This consisted of two wooden disks attached to a perpen-dicular axle, the larger being below the work-table. This the potter turned with his foot. The vessel was then fired in an oven (Sir SS^™). In later times the art of glazing was also understood, oxide of lead (' silver dross '), obtained in refining silver, being used for the purpose (Pr 26»', Sir 38»»). In Jeremiah's day the potters seem to have had a stance by the 'gate of potsherds' (Jer 18' 19"-,IlV'gateHarsith'),probablyin the neighbourhood of the clay pits, where they offered their wares for sale.

The thought of the potter moulding his clay at will is Implicit in many passages where ystsar, 'to form,' is the verb used (Gn 2"-, Ps 33« 95' etc.), and is made explicit in such passages as Is 29" 45', Ro 9^' etc.

The reading el ha'otsar (Syr.), 'into the treasury,' is preferred in Zee 11" by many scholars and RVm to MT el hayyUWer, 'unto the potter.' The passage is one of great difficulty.

What is known of the potter's art in Palestine is due mainly to the work of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and especially to that carried out by Flinders Petrie, Bliss, and Macalister, at Tell el-Hesy — possibly the ancient Lachish — and elsewhere, from 1890 onwards. The result of their investigations, and discussions by other scholars, are found in the PEFSt; Petrie's Tell el Hesy; Bliss's Mound of Many Cities; Excavations in Palestine, by Bliss, Macalister, and Wtlnsch, etc.

Petrie distinguishes three periods of ancient pottery. 1. Amorite, pre-historic, where the shape and markings of the vessels seem to show that they were moulded on the old leathern vessels. 2. Phoenician, rough and porous in character, often with painted ornamentation, of which possibly metal vessels furnished the models. This may be dated from B.C. 1400 to 1000. 3. Jewish, in which Amorite and Phoenician styles are blended; this apparently belongs to the time of the later mon-archy. On many jar handles are legends stamped in characters resembling those of the Siloam inscription. Along with the Jewish, Greek types of pottery are found, 'chiefiy ribbed bowls, and large amphorae with loop handles. The red and black figured ware was also imported' (Bliss, in Hastings' DB iv. 27).

Where pottery of the Seleucid age, with Greek names stamped on the handles, or Roman pottery, 'ribbed amphorse, and tiles stamped with the stamp of the

POVERTY

tenth legion,' or Arab glazed ware, is found, sites may be dated with approximate accuracy. But for these and older times, data furnished by remains of pottery must be used with caution. Thus certain jars found at a great depth below the surface at Jerusalem, un-doubtedly belonging to a comparatively early time, closely resemble some of those in use at the present day (Nowack, Heb. Arch. i. 26511.). W. Ewino.

POTTER'S FIELD.— See Akeldama.

POUND. — See Monet, S 7; Weights and Measures, § HI.

POVERTY.— 1 . In the OT.— The character and degree of the poverty prevalent in a community will naturally vary with the stages of social development through which it successively passes. Poverty is more acutely felt, and its extremes are more marked, where city-life and commerce have grown up than where the con-ditions of life are purely nomadic or agricultural.

The causes of poverty referred to in the OT (apart from those due to individual folly) are specially (o) bad seasons, involving failure of crops, loss of cattle, etc. (cf. 2 K 8>-', Neh 5'); (6) raids and invasions; (c) land-grabbing (cf. Is 58); (d) over-taxation and forced labour (cf. Jer 22"'); (e) extortionate usury, the opportunity for which was provided by the necessity for meeting high taxation and the losses arising from bad harvests (cf. Neh 51-8).

In the earlier period, when the tribal system with its complex of clans and families fiourished, poverty was not acutely felt. Losses, of course, there were, arising from bad seasons, invasion, and pestilence; we hear, too, of rich men oppressing the poor (cf . Nathan's parable, 2 S 12'-'); but there was little permanent poverty. Matters were maintained in a state of equi-librium so long as the land-system, under which all free Israelitish families possessed a patrimony, remained in working order. It is significant that in the earlier legislation of JE (cf. esp. the Ten Commandments, Ex 20'-", and the ' Book of the Covenant,' Ex 20>>-23»') the few references that do occur (.e.g. Ex 22^5 23') do not suggest that poverty was very wide-spread or acutely felt. During the period of the later monarchy, however, commerce, city-life, and luxury grew apace, and the greed and heartless oppression of the rich, the corruption and perversion of justice, which this state of things brought in its train, were constantly denounced by the great writing prophets, esp. in the 8th cent, (cf. e.g.. Is 1^, Am 4' 6'«-, Mic 2'«).

The Deuteronomiclegislation (7th cent.) bears eloquent testimony to the prevalence of poverty under the later monarchy (cf. Dt 10"-" I428-28 15. 23'9- "> 24'»-a 26"-"), and in one famous sentence predicts Its per-manence ('the poor shall never cease out of the land,' 15").

The classes of poor more particularly mentioned are widows, orphans, and the 'sojourners,' or resident strangers, who possessed no landed rights (.girim). The Levites also are specially referred to in Deut. as an impoverished class (cf. 12'2- '» 18), — a result of the centralization of worship in the one sanctuary at Jeru-salem. All classes of the poor are the objects of special solicitude and consideration in the Mosaic legislation, particularly in the Priestly Code (cf. e.g. Lv 5'- " 19'-" etc.)

For a long time after the Exile and Return the Palestinian community remained in a state of miser-able poverty. It was a purely agricultural society, and suffered much from contracted boundaries and agri-cultural depression. The 'day of small things' spoken of by the prophet Zechariah (4'") was prolonged. A terrible picture of devastation (produced by a locust plague) is given by the prophet Joel (ch. 1), and matters were aggravated during the last years of Persian rule (down to 332), and by the conflict between the Seleucids and Ftolemys for the possession of Palestine which

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