Was this particular drinking vessel, the κόνδυ, usually associated with augury? Is it a ritual vessel?
Well, the problem is that it’s an extremely rare word. I couldn’t track down the references in the LSJ, but I’m betting that they will not indicate a ritual use. Here is the Hebrew:
גָּבִיעַ: גבע; like → קֻבַּעַת, Eg. loan word qbḥw ? (Koehler JBL 59:36): cs. גְּבִיעַ, גְבִיעִי, גְּבִעִים, גְּבִיעֶיהָ: —1. (drinking) bowl (Sept. κόνδυ, κεράμιον, Tg. כַּלִּידָא, Dalman Arbeit 4:391) Gn 442.12.16f (silver, for fortune-telling, → נחשׁ pi.), Jr 355 (:: the smaller → כּוֹס; Honeyman 80 :: jug Kelso §37); —2. (golden) candleholder Ex 2531-34 3717-20. †
Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J. (1994–2000). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 173). Leiden: E.J. Brill.
The † at the end of the HALOT entry means that every citation in the Tanakh is included.
qbḥw is either a libation (of water), or the vessel for pouring a libation.
That’s for the possible relationship between Middle Egyptian and Hebrew.
For the Greek, the passages in the Deinososhists and Eusebius are quite easy to call up.
Ah, yes, and that includes the Menander citation I was looking for. But there’s nothing in the usages which indicates to me a ritual usage.
The section on κόνδυ in Deipnosophists had a couple of Egyptian references.
Νικόμαχος δ᾽ ἐν πρώτῳ περὶ Ἑορτῶν Αἰγυπτίων φησί: τὸ δὲ κόνδυ ἐστὶ μὲν Περσικόν, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν ἣν Ἕρμιππος ἀστρολογικὸς ὡς ὁ κόσμος ἐξ οὗ τῶν θεῶν τὰ θαύματα καὶ τὰ καρπώσιμα γίνεσθαι ἐπὶ γῆς: διὸ ἐκ τούτου σπένδεσθαι.
I would think that it’s saying something like “Nikomachus in the first book of Concerning Egyptian Festivals says: the κόνδυ is Persian, but according to Hermippos the Astrologer’s Order of the Gods’ Blessings and Gifts, it was the first [divine gift] to appear on earth, and this is why they toast from it.”
Hermippos is speaking about alcohol, I would think. But I don’t know if I have that translation right. The Loeb simply brackets it, and I haven’t looked at other translations. But I would think that it’s likely something like that.
The newest loeb (Athenaeus. The Learned Banqueters, Volume V: Books 10.420e-11. Edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson. Loeb Classical Library 274. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.) has:
Νικόμαχος δ᾿ ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ Ἑορτῶν Αἰγυπτίων φησί· τὸ δὲ κόνδυ ἐστὶ μὲν Περσικόν, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν † ἣν Ἕρμιππος ἀστρολογικὸς ὡς ὁ κόσμος ἐξ οὗ τῶν θεῶν τὰ θαύματα καὶ τὰ καρπώσιμα γίνεσθαι ἐπὶ γῆς † διὸ ἐκ τούτου σπένδεσθαι. Παγκράτης δ᾿ ἐν πρώτῳ Βοκχορηΐδος·
αὐτὰρ ὅ γε σπείσας ἐκ κόνδυος ἀργυφέοιο |
b. νέκταρ ἐπ᾿ ἀλλοδαπὴν οἶμον ἔβαινε πόδα.
Nicomachus says in Book I of On Egyptian Festivals (FGrH 662 F 1): The kondu is a Persian vessel, but originally † which the astrologer Hermippus (SH 486 = fr. 102 Wehrli) that the created order from which the marvels and profitable deeds of the gods occurred on earth, † which is why it is used to pour libations. Pancrates in Book I of the Bocchoreïs (SH 602):
But after he poured a libation of nectar from a silver
kondu, he set off on a journey to another land.
The text is corrupt which is no doubt why you had difficulty translating it.
Yes, I mentioned that about the Loeb version in my post.