Cuth, Cuthah
Cuth, Cuthah
CUTH, CUTHAH.One of the cities from which Sargon brought colonists to take the place of the Israelites whom he had deported from Samaria, b.c. 722 (2Ki 17:24; 2Ki 17:30). These colonists intermingled with the Israelite inhabitants who were left by Sargon; and their descendants, the Samaritans, were in consequence termed by the Jews Cuthans. According to the old Arabic geographers, Cuthah was situated not far from Babylon. This view is borne out by the Assyrian inscriptions, from which we learn that Kuti (or Kutu) was a city of Middle-Babylonia. It has now been identified with the modern Tell Ibrhim, N.E. of Babylon, where remains of the temple of Nergal (cf. 2Ki 17:30) have been discovered.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Cuth, Cuthah
kuth, kutha (, kuth, , kuthah; , Choua, , Chountha): The longer writing is the better of the two, and gives the Hebrew form of the name of one of the cities from which Sargon of Assyria brought colonists to fill the places of the Israelites which he deported from Samaria in 772 bc (2Ki 17:24, 2Ki 17:30). Probably in consequence of their predominating numbers, the inhabitants of Samaria in general were then called kuthym, or Cutbeans.
1. The Ruins of Cuthah
From contract-tablets found at Tel-Ibrahm by the late Hormuzd Hassam, on which the ancient name of the place is given as Gudua or Kutu, it would seem that that is the site which has to be identified with the Biblical Cuthah. It lies to the Northeast of Babylon, and was one of the most important cities of the Babylonian empire. The explorer describes the ruins as being about 3,000 ft. in circumference and 280 ft. high, and adjoining them on the West lies a smaller mound, crowned with a sanctuary dedicated to Ibrahm (Abraham). From the nature of the ruins, Rassam came to the conclusion that the city was much more densely populated after the fall of Babylon than in earlier times. A portion of the ruins were in a very perfect state, and suggested an unfinished building.
2. The Temple
The great temple of the city was called E-mes-lam, and was dedicated to Nergal (compare 2Ki 17:30), one of whose names was Meslam-ta-ea. Both city and temple would seem to have been old Sumerian foundations, as the name Gudua and its later Semitic form, Kutu, imply.
Literature
See Rassam, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, 396, 409, and, for details of the worship of Nergal, PSBA, December, 1906, 203-18.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Cuth, Cuthah
One of the places whence the king of Assyria brought colonists into Palestine. They inhabited the cities of Samaria and became with others the ancestors of the Samaritans. 2Ki 17:24; 2Ki 17:30. The locality of Cuthah is not definitely known. Josephus places it in the interior of Persia; others in Babylonia.