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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
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Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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Potiphar (/ˈpoʊtiːfɑːr/; Hebrew: פּוֹטִיפַר/פּוֹטִיפָר, romanized: Pōṭīp̄ar/Pōṭīp̄ār; from Late Egyptian: pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ, lit. 'he whom Ra gave'[1]) is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. His name possibly indicates the same figure as Potiphera (Hebrew: פוטיפרע).
Potiphar is the captain of the guard for a pharaoh who is said to have purchased Joseph[2][3] as a slave and, impressed by his intelligence, makes him the master of his household. Potiphar's wife,[4][5] 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 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, marries Joseph.[6] 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. Likewise, the fate of Potiphar's wife is unclear but some sources say she was stricken with illness.[7]
Rachel Adelman suggests that both Potiphar and his wife were sexually attracted to Joseph and tried to use him for their own purposes. But Potiphar's attempts were thwarted via castration, according to Talmudic legend. She believes the story is a criticism of Jewish assimilation since foreigners like Potiphar and his wife would seduce Jews to sin.[8]
The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives Potiphar's wife's name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions - hence the Persian poem, titled Yusuf and Zulaikha, which also has Persian miniatures of the couple, from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones").
The story became prevalent 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.
Tying Potiphar or Joseph accurately to a particular pharaoh or period is difficult. According to the Jewish calendar, Joseph was purchased in the year 2216, which is 1544 BC, at the end of the Second Intermediate Period or the very beginning of the New Kingdom. The Torah in which the story appears (before the Bible and the Quran) 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 source and stands in the same place as the stories of the butler and the baker and Pharaoh's dreams stand in the Elohist text.
A similar story is found in the Tale of Two Brothers, where the wife of Anpu tries to seduce his brother Bata.
The story is related in Quran 12:21–35. The Aziz (an honorific referring to Potiphar) purchases Joseph and proposes to adopt him. When Joseph reaches a mature age, the Aziz's wife attempts to seduce him, but he resists her seduction. To avoid blame, she instead accuses Joseph of attempting to rape her. However, since she had ripped his shirt from behind while he ran away, Joseph's innocence was proven to the Aziz, who condemns his wife. Therefore, the immoral conduct of the Aziz's wife becomes known in the city. On seeing Joseph's beauty, chaos is caused amongst the wives of other Egyptian chiefs, which prompts the Aziz to imprison him.[9]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Potiphar (; Hebrew: פּוֹטִיפַר/פּוֹטִיפָר, romanized: Pōṭīp̄ar/Pōṭīp̄ār; from Late Egyptian: pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ, lit. 'he whom Ra gave') is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. His name possibly indicates the same figure as Potiphera (Hebrew: פוטיפרע). Potiphar is the captain of the guard for a pharaoh who is said to have purchased Joseph as a slave and, impressed by his intelligence, makes him the master of his household. Potiphar's wife, 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 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, 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. Likewise, the fate of Potiphar's wife is unclear but some sources say she was stricken with illness. Rachel Adelman suggests that both Potiphar and his wife were sexually attracted to Joseph and tried to use him for their own purposes. But Potiphar's attempts were thwarted via castration, according to Talmudic legend. She believes the story is a criticism of Jewish assimilation since foreigners like Potiphar and his wife would seduce Jews to sin. The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives Potiphar's wife's name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions - hence the Persian poem, titled Yusuf and Zulaikha, which also has Persian miniatures of the couple, from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones"). The story became prevalent 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.
Potiphar's wife, also known as Zuleikha ( zoo-LAY-kah; Hebrew: זְלִיכָה, romanized: Zəlīḵā; Arabic: زُلَيْخَا, romanized: Zulayḵā), 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 rape after he rejected her sexual advances, resulting in his imprisonment. In Genesis she is given no name, but in later medieval Jewish sources and Islamic tradition, she is identified as Zuleikha. The story of Yusuf and Zulaikha is a popular one in Islamic literature.
Joseph and Potiphar's Wife is a 1640–1645 oil on canvas painting by the Spanish artist Murillo, now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Kassel). His later 1660s version of the subject is now in a private collection.
Joseph Sold to Potiphar is an oil on panel painting by Pontormo, executed c. 1515, now in the National Gallery in London. Like The Baker Tortured, Joseph in Egypt and Joseph's Brothers Ask Him For Help (all also in the National Gallery), it was originally painted for the Marriage Chamber of the Palazzo Borgherini.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
