NAPHTUHIM Neg9aNe1i.4; Neph tram), one of the sons the second son of Ham (Gen. x. 13 ; I Chron. i. I I). The name is only mentioned in the two great genealogi cal tables of ancient nations given in the Bible. Mizraim was unquestionably the founder of the Egyptian nation, and consequently we must look for the Naphtuhim in that country. The word Naphtuhim is a plural form ; and we may therefore infer that the sacred writer in using it had special reference to the nation or tribe which sprung from Naphtuh. According to Plutarch, the Egyptians gave the name Nephthus (Nic69us) to the extremi ties or boundaries of the country along the rocky seaboard, supposed to be under the protection of the goddess Nephthys, wife of Typhon. And Bochart says this name was given to one of two places—I. To the coast of the Red Sea ; or, 2. To the coast of the Mediterranean, near the western side of the Delta (Bochart, Opera, i. 279, seq.) He argues that the latter is the true site, and that Naphtuhim may be identified with the `shrine of Aptuchus' ('Ax-rotlxou lep6v) mentioned by Ptolemy (Id. 283). It appears more probable, however, to identify the Naphtuhim with the city of Naphata or Napata. the capital of an ancient Ethiopian kingdom, and one of the most splendid cities in Africa (Strabo, xvii., p. 82o; Pliny, IL N.
vi. 35; Ptolemy, iv. 7). Strabo states that Napata was the royal seat of Queen Candace, a fact which • may connect one of the most ancient tribes of the Old Testament with an incident in apostolic his tory (Acts viii. 27). The city and its territory lay upon the southern frontier of Mizraim, at the great bend of the Nile in Soudan, and having the desert of Bahiuda on the south. The ruins of the city on the banks of the river are extensive and splendid, consisting of pyramids, temples, sphinxes, and sculptures. The modern name is Herod or Me razue; though some geographers do not adopt this view (Ritter, Erdhuna'e, is 590. The connection of this city with Egypt is shown by the character of its ruins. There is a temple of Osiris and another of Ammon ; and there is a necropolis on whose gateway Osiris is figured receiving gifts as the god of the lower world. Two lions of red granite of beautiful workmanship were found here, and brought to England by Lord Prudhoe, now Duke of Northumberland. They are at present in the British Museum (Hoskins, Travels, pp. 161, 2S3; Layard, .Nin. and Babylon, p. 157; Kalisch On Genesis, p. 265 ; Smith's Diet. of G. and R. Geography, ii. 396).—J. L. P.