Legend of the Brass Teapot

Ancient origins. The Brass teapot is said to be made in part from the blood money paid in silver to Judas for the treason of Jesus of Nazareth, thereby embuing the vessel with a powerful and mystical alchemy.

In the biblical legend, the brass teapot was forged by an unwitting blacksmith on the day Jesus of Nazareth was brought before Pontius Pilate. It is written that Judas, one of the twelve, betrayed Jesus and turned him over to the chief priest, in exchange he was paid 30 pieces of silver. Judas' newfound wealth did little to overcome his intense remorse. When Judas fled the temple, it is written that he cried out 'I have sinned,' 'for I have betrayed innocent blood.' Judas then tried desperately to undo his treason but it was too late. Jesus was condemned to die. Judas ran from the city of Jesualem and passed by the hovel of a blacksmith, who on that day was forging a teapot out of brass to be delivered to a foreign customer. The legend continues that Judas who wished to destroy the burden threw the shekels into a burning cauldron of brass and ran on to the mountains where he committed suicide. The teapot was forged by an expert blacksmith then from the mix of the brass and silver and etched with deep, mysterical engravings; it was then sent on to a powerful king in Magdala near the Sea of Galilee. The king quickly realized the powers of the teapot and had it taken to neighboring Damascus where it was houses in a spectacular fortress, guarded always by warriors less it fall into the hands of enemies.

Interestingly, this unlikely-sounding story could have been base on fact. Fourth century scholars record that Judas did indeed receive 30 pieces of silver, these shekels of Tyre were the only currency accepted at the Jerusalem Temple and held great value. In the bible it is written that guardsmen reported seeing Judas throw the shekels into a field where they were quickly retrieved by a neighboring crowd. Later Judas hung himself from a tree. As the ancient forgers of Jerusalem are known to have used unknown and mysterious metalic combinations, it is likely that the brass teapot was forged from shekels which came from Pontius Pilates stock.

THE NAME: The Brass Teapot first appears as simply "a grail" in the works of Christien De Troyes. The word is probably derived from the Old French word graal meaning a "broad and capacious dish or salver". Though usually thought of as being a cup or chalice, the Grail has indeed been variously described as a platter, dish, a cornucopia, horn of plenty, pitcher, and most notably, a teapot.