Pha´raoh, the general title of the kings of Egypt in the Old Testament, and found only there and in the writers who have drawn from that source. It often stands simply like a proper name (;; , sq.; 44:1, sq.; and so generally throughout the Pentateuch, and also in;; ). 'King of Egypt' is sometimes subjoined to it (;; ); and sometimes also the more specific designation or real proper name of the monarch is indicated as Pharaoh Necho (), Pharaoh Hophra (). Josephus intimates that the word signifies 'the king' in the Egyptian language (Antiq. viii. 6. 2). The idea has, however, been more recently started that Pharaoh corresponds to the Egyptian phra, 'the sun,' which is written as an hieroglyphic symbol over the titles of kings. It seems to us that this explanation might be admitted without contradicting the other, seeing that it is not only possible, but highly probable, that the Egyptians should make the name of the sun a royal title, and that at length custom rendered it equivalent to 'king.' The practice of ancient, and, indeed, modern Oriental kings, of associating the idea of their own dignity with the glory of the sun, is well known.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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