PHARAOH (Parʽoh), the Hebraized title of the king of Egypt
(q.v.), in Egyptian Per-ʽo, Pheron in Herodotus represents the
same. Its combination with the name of the king, as in Pharaoh-Necho,
Pharaoh-Hophra, is in accordance with contemporary
native usage: the name of the earlier Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonk)
is rightly given without the title. In hieroglyphic a king bears
several names preceded by distinctive titles. In the IVth
Dynasty there might be four of the latter:
(1)
identifying him with the royal god Horus; the name is commonly written
in a frame
representing the façade of a building,
perhaps a palace or tomb, on which the falcon stands.
(2)
connecting him with the vulture and uraeus
goddesses, Nekhabi and Buto of the south and north.
(3)
a hawk on the symbol of gold, signifying the victorious Horus.
(4)
the old titles of the rulers of the separate kingdoms
of Upper and Lower Egypt, to be read stni, “butcher(?)”
and byti, “beekeeper(?)” The personal name of the king
followed (4), and was enclosed in a cartouche
apparently symbolizing the circuit of the sun which alone
bounded the king’s rule. Before the IVth Dynasty the
cartouche is seldom found: the usual title is (1), and (3) does not
occur. In the Vth Dynasty the custom began of giving the
king at his accession a special name connecting him with the sun
this was placed in the cartouche after (4), and a fifth title was
added:
(5)
Si-rē, “son of the Sun-god,”
to precede
a cartouche containing the personal name. The king was briefly
spoken of by his title stni (see 4), or ḥnm-f, “his service,” or Ity,
“liege-lord.” These titles were preserved in the sacred writing
down to the latest age. An old term for the royal palace
establishment and estate was Per-ʽo, “the Great House,” and
this gradually became the personal designation of Pharaoh
(cf. the Grand Porte), displacing all others in the popular
language. (F. Ll. G.)
