PITHOM pĭ’ thəm (פִּתֹ֖ם; LXX Πειθω, and ̔Ηρωωνπολις). Store-city built by the Hebrews before the Exodus; mentioned only in Exodus 1:11 (MT).
Although Pithom is securely attested as a proper name in Egyp. sources from the 13th cent. b.c. onward, yet its precise identification and localization present some problems, esp. in the relation between Pithom and Tjeku (Succoth).
The phonetic equation of Heb. Succoth (Skt) with Egyp. Tjeku (Ṯkw) presents no special difficulty. Hebrew sukkot, “booths,” is but a slight adaptation of the Egyp. Tjeku. Of the location of Tjeku, there can be no serious doubt. In the Wadi Tumilat in the SE Delta, the ancient site of Tell el Maskhuta has produced a long series of monuments that repeatedly mention Tjeku. Furthermore, they most frequently do so in connection with the god Atum or Tum as the god of Tjeku. Tjeku indubitably contained a temple of that deity, from which have come various monuments of Ramses II and later times. A statue of the priest ’Aak (Naville, Pithom, plate 4A) entitles him Overseer of Prophets of Atum and Chief Priest over Tjeku, and addresses all the priests “who (shall) enter the temple of Atum...residing in Tjeku.” Tjeku-cum-Succoth contained a temple (Per) of Atum, being located at present day Tell el Maskhuta. This agrees with literary references in Egyp. sources. A letter in Ostracon Deir el Medineh 1076:1 offers greetings “in the favor of all the gods of Tjeku” determined with the town sign (Posener, Catalogue des Ostraca Littéraires de Deir el Médineh I [1934/38], plate 43). Papyrus Anastasi V twice mentions Tjeku in connection with the Medjay police as desert scouts, very appropriate so near to the wilderness of Etham (cf. Papyrus Anastasi V 19:2; 25:2; 26:1, Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies [1954], 253, 269). At Succoth was a “keep” which could be reached in one day’s travel from “the Palace” (Papyrus Anastasi V, 19:3-8; Caminos, op. cit., 255-258). The Palace would then be that at Pi-Ramessē (Heb. Raamses), and the day’s journey would correspond in length with the march of the Hebrews from Rameses to Succoth (Exod 12:37). Papyrus Anastasi VI, 55ff., mentions an Edomite tribal group coming in past the fort of King Merenptah in Tjeku to go to the Pools of the House (or Estate) of Atum of Merenptah in Tjeku (ANET, 259a), i.e., in the reverse direction to the Israelites when they went out toward Etham.
The term Per-Atum is used in the passage last cited and also by an official of Osorkon II on his statue from Tell el Maskhuta (Naville, Pithom, plate 4). Insofar as Per-Atum or Pi-Tum is the Egyp. equivalent of Heb. Pithom, Tjeku-Succoth has been advocated as the site of Biblical Pithom—Tjeku would be the ordinary name of the town, fort, and immediate neighborhood, whereas Per-Atum was its religious name. A Lat. inscr. Lo(cus) Eropolis, Ero castra would suggest that classical Hero(on)polis was at Tell el Maskhuta, supporting the latter’s identity with Pithom via the LXX and Coptic equation of Pithom and Heroonpolis.
However, some doubt persists over this neat solution. Some nine m. W of Tell el Maskhuta, the site of Tell er Rotab (or Retabeh) has also yielded monuments of Ramses II and traces of a temple of Atum (see Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities [1906], plates 29-31). With Gardiner, this too could be a Per-Atum and perhaps Biblical Pithom. Late sources might favor this, and a second Lat. inscr. from Tell el Maskhuta could be taken as a milestone to be read “from Ero (on the way) to Clysma, nine miles,” i.e., that Ero (Pithom) was already nine m. W of Tell el Maskhuta, on the road to Clysma (Suez); (cf. Gardiner, JEA, V [1918], 269). Furthermore, a more westerly location for Pithom would bring it closer to the land of Goshen where the Hebrews were principally domiciled. Thus, the Pithom of Exodus 1:11 may be either Succoth at Tell el Maskhuta or else nine m. to the W at Tell er Rotab.
Bibliography E. Naville, The Store City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus4 (1903); A. H. Gardiner, JEA, V (1918), 261-269; Naville and Gardiner, JEA, X (1924), 32-36, 95, 96; D. B. Redford, VT, XIII (1963), 403-408; H. W. Helck, VT, XV (1965), 35-40.