or CUTHAN, in Ancient Geography, a province of Assyria, situated, according to some, upon the Araxes, and the same with Cush; whilst others take it to be the same with the country which the Greeks call Susiana, and which is by the inhabitants called Chuseston. Calmet is of opinion that Cuthan and Scythia are the same, and that the Cuthites who were removed into Samaria by Salmanasar (2 Kings, xvii. 24) came from Cush or Cuth. (See the article Cush.) The Cushites worshipped the idol Nergal. These people were transplanted into Samaria in the room of the Israelites, who before inhabited it. Calmet is of opinion that they came from the land of Cush, or Cuthan, upon the Araxes, and that their first settlement was in the cities of the Medes subdued by Salmanasar and the kings of Syria his predecessors. The Scripture observes, that the Cuthites, upon their arrival in this new country, continued to worship the gods formerly adored by them beyond the Euphrates. But Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who succeeded Sennacherib, appointed an Israelitish priest to go thither and instruct them in the religion of the Hebrews. These people, however, thought that they might reconcile their old superstition with the worship of the true God, and they therefore framed particular gods for themselves, which they placed in the several cities where they dwelt. The Cuthites then worshipped both the true God and their false gods together, and chose the lowest of the people to make of them priests to serve in the high places; and they continued this practice for a long time. But afterwards they forsook the worship of idols, and adhered to the law of Moses.