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Cun Cuneiform 1159 Cun 1160 Cun represents an object or an idea. However, the signs Cun (Heb. kûn; Vg.: Chun). According to 1 Chr 18 : 8, could also be used with phonetic value, e.g., to help Cun is a Syrian town from which David seized a choose the correct reading of the word and indicate large amount of bronze which Solomon later used its pronunciation (phonetic complement), or as a for the temple. Josephus took the name of the town grammatical element helping to conjugate a verb or to be Μων, that is, reading the mem in Hebrew decline a noun. mkwn as part of the name rather than the preposi- From the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, tion “from” (Ant. 7.105). The town is perhaps to be when writing Akkadian (a Semitic language), the identified with Berothai in 2 Sam 8 : 8. scribes maintained the cuneiform signs used in Su- Choon-Leong Seow merian, but retained only their phonetic value which generally corresponded to one syllable. For instance, the sign denoting “earth,” ki in Sumerian, Cuneiform was used in Akkadian to note down the sound ki in The term “cuneiform” literally means “wedge- all the words which contained it (like kittum, “jus- shaped” (from Lat. cuneus, “wedge”). First used tice,” which was written using the signs ki, it, and around 1700, the term originally denoted the char- tum). At the same time, the Akkadian language con- acters used in inscriptions at Persepolis, which, at served those ideograms inherited from Sumerian that time, were known in Europe through copies. which stand for commonly used terms like names Subsequently, engraved characters of the same ap- of professions, denominations of kinship, or for de- pearance were discovered in Mesopotamia, on terminatives which, preceding or following a word, monuments, bricks, and clay tablets. The word “cu- indicate the category it belongs to (e.g., wooden ob- neiform” is thus a descriptive term which qualified ject, metallic object, geographical name, bird, fish, the writings of the ancient Near East before they etc.). were even deciphered. In ancient times, the Sume- The syllabic signs used for writing Akkadian rian name for these signs was santak, which was constitute a relatively simple system, which was adopted into Akkadian in the form santakkum. Liter- adopted by neighboring populations of Mesopota- ally, that means “triangle,” and this is in fact not mia or by newly arrived groups for noting down very far from the modern term “cuneiform.” their own language, even if that was not at all re- When this system of writing first emerged in lated to Akkadian itself. Thus, in the 2nd millen- Mesopotamia, at the end of the 4th millennium nium BCE, the Hurrian, Hittite, and Elamite lan- BCE (Uruk period), it was not actually “cuneiform.” guages were written with the aid of this syllabary, The signs engraved or printed on the most ancient as was the language of Urartu in the 1st millen- tablets resemble pictograms, some of which were nium BCE. figurative, others not. From the beginning of the The use of a cuneiform sign to denote a letter is 3rd millennium BCE, they adopted an increasingly attested for the first time in the 13th century BCE, angled form. Scientifically, this evolution is ex- in Ugarit (Syria), where the local Semitic language plained by the fact that scribes wrote on clay tab- was written by means of an alphabet of thirty signs. lets, using a reed stylus as their main writing tool: This alphabet, however, did not survive the destruc- the chiseled tip of the reed leaves a triangular mark tion of the site in the early 12th century BCE. Dur- on the crude clay, and one of the cusps of the trian- ing the Achaemenid era (6th–4th cents. BCE), a gle can be slightly prolonged. This is how the signs mixed system of about forty alphabetic and syllabic began to look more and more like “wedges.” Even if signs was used for royal monumental inscriptions their notation kept changing, they maintained their in Persian. “cuneiform” appearance for almost three millennia, At the beginning of the 19th century, this Old until, at the end of the 1st century CE, the writing Persian writing was the first cuneiform writing to on clay tablets came to an end and the Akkadian be deciphered by G. Grotefend and H. Rawlinson. language ceased to be used. Clay tablets carrying It provided the key for understanding the other sys- cuneiform writings have been found all over the tems and enabled experts to decipher Akkadian Near East, from Syria and Palestine to Iran, Turkey, writings in the mid-19th century, thanks to the ex- and southern Iraq, as well as in regions which en- istence in Persia of trilingual texts, written in Old joyed close political and commercial relations with Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Subsequently, the this area, e.g., Bahrain and Amarna in Egypt. The majority of the other languages could also be deci- “wedge-shaped” signs were used to write in differ- phered, on the basis of bilingual documents (Sume- ent languages, in accordance with the different sys- rian – Akkadian; Hittite – Hurrian). tems. From the mid-19th century, it has been an es- In the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE, tablished and well-known fact that the civilizations these signs were used to note down the Sumerian which employed cuneiform writing are of great im- language (an isolated language), according to a sys- portance for the study of the Bible. In fact, epigra- tem of ideograms and logograms where every sign phists quickly deciphered the names of kings Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 5 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2012 Download Date | 2/4/19 12:39 PM 1161 Cup 1162 known from the Bible (for instance Sargon and Sen- In the Psalter, the cup refers figuratively to that nacherib) on monuments and objects excavated in which is portioned or measured out. While the cup the Assyrian capitals. Certain documents refer to can hold God’s allotted blessing (Pss 16 : 5; 23 : 5), events, places, or personalities mentioned in the Bi- the predominant figurative use of cup indicates di- ble, such as the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III vine judgment (Pss 11 : 6; 75 : 9; Jer 25 : 17; 49 : 12; (which recalls the tribute offered by Jehu of Israel) Hab 2 : 15–16; Obad 16; Lam 4 : 21). In Jeremiah, or the tablets of Babylonia (recording the distribu- Babylon is referred to as “a golden cup in YHWH’s tion of oil to Jehoiachin of Judah and his family hand,” which makes the nations go mad (Jer 51 : 7). during the exile). In 2007, a mention of Nebo-Sarse- Being compelled to drink of the cup from YHWH’s kim (a high official of Nebuchadrezzar II, who was hand, which is filled with a justly determined present during the conquest of Jerusalem in 586 amount of punishment, results in drunkenness BCE; Jer 39 : 3) was identified on a tablet from Sip- (Ezek 23 : 33), staggering (Isa 51 : 17, 22; Jer 25 : 16), par. Cuneiform writing was used in Palestine in the reeling (Zech 12 : 2), and vomiting (Jer 25 : 27). The 2nd millennium BCE, until it was supplanted by image of drinking judgment from a cup suggests the use of alphabets in the 1st millennium BCE. that although YHWH’s retribution is unavoidable, Throughout the entire 1st millennium BCE, the re- the guilty must concede to drink from the cup, gion and its inhabitants maintained close political, thereby participating in their punishment (Jer economic, and cultural relations (sometimes peace- 25 : 28). ful, sometimes not) with their eastern neighbors, Amy Erickson the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. II. New Testament Bibliography: ■ André-Leickman, B./C. Ziegler, Naissance de l’écriture (Paris 1982). ■ Glassner, J.-J., The Invention of Cunei- New Testament authors built upon a rich set of tra- form: Writing in Sumer (eds. Z. Bahrani/M. Van De Mieroop; ditions when they refashioned metaphors involving Baltimore, Md./London 2003); trans. of id., Ecrire à Sumer: the word “cup” (Gk. πτ ριν). As a feature in reli- L’invention du cunéiforme (Paris 2000). ■ Horowitz, W. et al., gious practices, an ornamental vessel, or simply a Cuneiform in Canaan: Cuneiform Sources from the Land of Israel plain container necessary for quenching thirst, ■ in Ancient Times (Jerusalem 2006). Lion, B./C. Michel πτ ριν (eds.), Les écritures cunéiformes et leur déchiffrement (Paris 2008). became both a central literary metaphor ■ Radner, K. / E. Robson (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform and a key item in community worship. Culture (Oxford 2011). ■ Walker, C. B. F., Cuneiform (Lon- The earliest NT reference to a ceremonial cup don 1987). employed in Christian assemblies is found in 1 Co- Brigitte Lion rinthians. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they share a “cup of blessing” (Gk. τ πτ ριν τ ς ε- λγας) at their meals, which, he clarifies, amounts Cup to partaking in the blood of Christ (1 Cor 10 : 16). Having shared the “cup of the Lord” (Gk. πτ ριν I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament υρυ II. New Testament κ ), he argues, they must not then share in a “cup of demons” (Gk. πτ ριν δαιμνων; 1 Cor 10 : 21), an instruction that interprets an estab- I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament lished community practice as a rationale for both The most common Hebrew word for “cup” in the unity and firm community boundaries. As partici- HB/OT is kôs (see also ga¯ bîa). Artisans across the an- pants in a ceremonial meal, the Corinthians must cient Near East made cups from clay, stone, bronze avoid comparable meals dedicated to “idols,” a ref- or copper, silver, and gold.
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