Nestor's Cup (mythology)

Machaon, son of Asclepius, is injured by Paris, and taken back to the Greek camp by Nestor; a healing drink is prepared for him in the cup.

ἄλλος μὲν μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης πλεῖον ἐόν, Νέστωρ δ᾽ ὁ γέρων ἀμογητὶ ἄειρεν.

[3] Peter Allan Hansen suggests that the cup may have appeared in the Cypria, perhaps in the episode known from a citation in Athenaeus where Nestor gives Menelaus counsel after the abduction of Helen.

[5] Despite its relatively brief description in the Iliad – a mere six lines, compared to some 130 describing the Shield of Achilles in Book 18[6] – the cup was the subject of a great deal of attention in antiquity.

[2] The doves were discussed by Asclepiades of Myrlea, and caught the imagination of Martial, who mentions them in his description of Nestor's cup in poem 8.6.