Phut (cf. Septuagint Greek Φουδ Phoud) is the term used by the Jewish historian Josephus for biblical פוט pûṭ (Put), the third son of Ham (one of the sons of Noah), in the biblical Table of Nations (Genesis 10:6; cf. 1 Chronicles 1:8). Five other biblical verses refer to the descendants of Put, where they are consistently noted to be warriors. In three cases they are described as being supporters of Egypt, along with Kush (biblical Cush).

Put (or Phut) is consistently associated with Libya. Josephus writes: "Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself" (AotJ Book 1:6/2). This is likewise indicated in the biblical account where it is said that "Put and the Libyans" were the helpers of Egypt (Nahum 3:9). The Septuagint and Vulgate substitute "Libya" in Ezekiel 27:10, 35:5, where the Hebrew Bible refers to Put. Furthermore, ancient Egyptian texts dating back as far as the 22nd dynasty , refer to the Libyan tribe of pỉdw, while a Ptolemaic text from Edfu refers to the t3 n n3 pỉt.w "the land of the Pitu(-people)". The word was later written in Demotic as pỉt and paiat in Coptic. Greek language texts from Graeco-Roman Egypt also refer to this Libyan group. Finally, a multilingual stela from al-Kabrīt, dating to the reign of Darius I refers to the Put as the putiya (Old Persian) and puṭa (Neo-Babylonian), but the equivalent text written in Egyptian has t3 ṯmḥw "Libya".

Despite the fact that there is little to doubt that Put was an ancient Libyco-Berber tribe, some scholars have erroneously connected it with Punt or even Phoenicia, though the evidence for such a connection is completely lacking.

References

• Baker, David W. 1992. "Put". In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 5 of 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. 560
• Graefe, Erhart. 1975. "Der libysche Stammesname p(j)d(j)/pjt im spätzeitlichen Onomastikon." Enchoria: Zeitschrift für Demotistik und Koptologie 5:13–17.