Guide
Pharoah's Daughter in Early Jewish Literature
2nd Century BCE–7th Century CE
Restricted
Exodus 2:5–10 narrates Pharaoh’s daughter’s rescue of baby Moses from the Nile and relates that she named him and raised him as her own son. While Exodus refers to her only as the “daughter of Pharaoh,” later postbiblical traditions give her a name and elaborate on her character. In Josephus and Jubilees, she is given the Greek name Thermouthis or Tarmuth, the name of the Egyptian snake deity. In contrast, the ancient rabbis follow 1 Chronicles 4:18 and call her Bithia or Batyah, which means “daughter of God.”
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
Pharaoh’s Daughter Wall Painting, Dura-Europos
This panel from the Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria depicts Pharaoh’s daughter drawing Moses from the Nile.
Primary Source
Josephus on Pharaoh’s Daughter
Thermouthis was the king’s daughter. When she was playing beside the banks of the river and spotted a cradle being swept along by the current, she sent out divers and ordered them to carry the basket…
Primary Source
Jubilees on Pharaoh’s Daughter
At that time Tarmuth, Pharaoh’s daughter, went out to bathe in the river and heard you [Moses] crying. She told her slaves to bring you, so they brought you to her.
Primary Source
Leviticus Rabbah on Pharaoh’s Daughter
These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh (1 Chronicles 4:18). R. Joshua of Sikhnin said, in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One said to Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, “Moses was not…