Putite Nation
Put (or Phut) is consistently associated with Libya. Linguistically it is related to the punic empire Punt or Phoenit (whence derives Phoenicia) of North Africa west of Egypt centered around Tunisia. Josephus writes: "Phut also was the founder of Libya to the south (not to be confused with current day 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, 38:5, 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".
See Jeremiah 46:9, Ezekiel 27:10, 38:5, Nahum 3:9. Josephus identifies it with Lybyos or Lybia in North Africa. In Coptic (ancient Egyptian), Lybia is also known as Phiait. The Targum, however, renders it as Alichrok, possibly Heracleotes. Other ancient sources state that it is to the east of the Holy Land (Yov'loth 9:1).
Genetically they may be the Bantu.
