A cup-bearer was an officer of high rank in royal courts, whose duty it was to serve the wine at the king's table. On account of the constant fear of plots and intrigues, a person must be regarded as thoroughly trustworthy to hold this position. He must guard against poison in the king's cup, and was sometimes required to swallow some of the wine before serving it. His confidential relations with the king often endeared him to his sovereign and also gave him a position of great influence.

Cup-bearers in Greek myth

In Greek mythology, Hêbê was the cupbearer to the Greek gods. She was succeeded in this role by Ganymede when he became the catamite of Zeus. The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the telling of stories created by the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and their own cult and ritual practices. ... In Greek mythology, Ganymede (Greek: Γανυμήδης, Ganumêdês)) was a divine hero whose homeland was the Troad. ... A catamite was the younger partner in a pederastic relationship between two males in the ancient world, especially Ancient Rome. ... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is...

Cup-bearers in the Bible

Cup-bearers are mentioned several times in the Bible.

This officer is first mentioned in Genesis 40:1, where the Hebrew word elsewhere translated "cupbearer" is rendered "butler." The phrase "chief of the butlers" (Genesis 40:2) accords with the fact that there were often a number of such officials under one as chief (compare Xen. Hellen. vii.1, 38). Nehemiah (compare Nehemiah 1:11) was cupbearer to Artaxerxes Longimanus, and was held in high esteem by him, as the record shows. His financial ability (Nehemiah 5:8,10,14,17) would indicate that the office was a lucrative one. Nehemiah or Nechemya (נְחֶמְיָה Comforted of/is the LORD (YHWH), Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh, ) is a major figure in the post-exile history of the Jews as recorded in the Bible, and is believed to be the primary author of the Book of Nehemiah. ... Artaxerxes I was king of Persia from 464 BC to 424 BC. He belonged to the Achaemenid dynasty and was the successor of Xerxes I. He is mentioned in two books of the Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah. ...

Cupbearers are mentioned further in 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chronicles 9:4, where they, among other evidences of royal splendor, are stated to have impressed the Queen of Sheba with Solomon's glory. The title Rabshakeh (Isaiah 36:2), once thought to mean "chief of the cupbearers," is now given a different derivation and explained as "chief of the officers," or "princes" (BDB under the word). // The Queen of Sheba, (Nigist Saba Amharic: ንግት ሳባ), referred to in the Bible books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the New Testament, the Quran, and Ethiopian history, was the ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom which modern archaeology speculates was located in present-day Eritrea, Ethiopia or Yemen. ...

See further on cupbearers: Herod. iii.34; Xen. Cyrop. i.3, 8, 9; Josephus, Ant, XVI, viii, 1; Tobit 1:22.

See also

• Food taster
• Sommelier
• Cup-Bearer of Lithuania

A food taster is a person that eats food to be served to someone else to confirm that it is safe to eat and does not contain toxins or poisons. ... The sommelier knife is an important tool of a sommelier. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

External links

• International Standard Bible Encyclopedia public-domain article

Note: this article is adapted from an article in the 1915 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, which is now in the public domain