(Piʹthom) [from Egyptian, meaning “House [Temple] of Atum”].

One of two storage cities built by the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, the other being Raamses. (Ex 1:11) No positive identification of the site has been made. Archaeologists have apparently been influenced in their conclusions by the popular view that the Pharaoh of the Israelite oppression was Ramses II, a view that is not soundly founded.​—See RAAMSES, RAMESES.