Alexander the Great and the Office of Edeatros

Abstract

After 330 BC, Alexander implemented a set of court reforms, one of which was the introduction of the edeatros (taster). Despite the arguments of J.N. Kaller is, there is a reasonable case to be made that the edeatros was an office taken from the Great King's court. Rather than a simple taster, however, the edeatros came to oversee the sumptuous banquets Alexander now regularly held. Ptolemy was appointed to this position, and, like Hephaestion as chiliarch, was given a Persian court office to honour him as one of the king's loyal companions.