Mount Zion Mug Gives Insight Into Bible-Era Jerusalem
We all get a bit ticked off when someone else uses our favourite coffee mug. But for the Jews in ancient Jerusalem, keeping their best cups sacred was apparently a matter of the gravest importance.
A stone drinking receptacle dating from around the time of Jesus Christ, found recently on historic Mount Zion, has shed light on strict religious ritual when it came to mugs in Biblical times. It bears tens lines of strange script scratched into its side, which – while not yet deciphered – are nevertheless believed to indicate that the cup wasn’t to be casually used by just anybody.
The mug, found broken up into three fragments, dates from some time between 37 BC and AD 70 – when the Romans nearly destroyed Jerusalem after the Jewish revolt. It was discovered by archaeologists digging in the remains of an elite neighbourhood that once stood near the palace of King Herod the Great (who lived from 74 BC to 4 BC). The same team recently found a stone nearby, also engraved with mysterious markings. The script looks like it’s written in a kind of secret code, combining the two languages used in Jerusalem at the time – Hebrew and Aramaic.
“They could be instructions on how to use [the cup], which could have incantations or curses. It’s not going to be something mundane like a shopping list.”
“They wrote it intending it to be cryptic,” said Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte – one of the lead excavators on the dig – speaking to National Geographic. Clearly the cup bore some enigmatic meaning which – similar to, say, the writing in the Dead Sea Scrolls – was intended to be understood only by certain specific individuals. “They could be instructions on how to use [the cup], which could have incantations or curses,” he continued. “It’s not going to be something mundane like a shopping list.”
Cups of the time that came into contact with forbidden foodstuffs had to be smashed up and disposed of, according to strict Jewish purity laws on eating and drinking. This one was – very practically – made out of stone. “According to Jewish law, stone cannot become ritually impure,” explained archaeologist Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – an expert on daily life in biblical Jerusalem – also talking to National Geographic. “In the long run, if you’re observing purity laws, it’s cost-effective to use stone vessels.”
Such mugs are very commonly found in the area. However, this one is unique. “This is the first time an inscription has been found on a stone vessel of this type,” commented Gibson. He’s been circulating images of the artefact as widely as possible among experts on writing from the period, and also hopes to get as many pictures as possible online in the hope of it being spotted by someone who can interpret the text.
We’re welcoming suggestions too. Serious ones only please.
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Although no picture is shown of the sherds from the first century BC-AD Mount Zion stone mug, I suspect it is what is familiarly known as Herodian measuring mug ware. The mug would have had one square handle with a hole in its center, and the sides of the mug would have been pared vertically, making it appear to have many facets. Such a mug would appeal to an orthodox Jew, since, as noted, stoneware could not be ritually contaminated by non-kosher food or beverages, and might be expected to be found in an Upper City context where priests and other devout persons lived. This mug would not have been smashed because of ritual pollution. The inscription on the mug, and on the stone found in the house on Mount Zion, is probably a local form of Aramaic (which had many dialects). To my knowledge no pieces of this ware have ever been found inscribed.
It is possible this mug could have been used for divination, which was not always viewed as a pagan practice. Over 1,000 years earlier, the Patriarch Joseph, known for his piety, had a silver cup which he used both for drinking and for divination (Genesis 44:4-5). The mug could have been smashed if the inscription listed enemies, or prospective feared events. In that case the inscription would indicate, "As this mug is smashed, so may my enemies (sometimes mentioned by name in the inscription) be smashed." This was the case in the Egyptian Execration Texts written on cups, bowls and figurines. Or the mug simply could have been smashed during the destruction of Jerusalem.
Wouldn't it be funny if the inscription said something like: "This belongs to Yohanan, the man, the myth, the legend!" It would be nice if you could inform your readers where the inscription and its decipherment eventually will be published. Thank you for an interesting article. Joyce, M.A., Oriental Institute, U. Chicago
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