The Jeroboam is a large wine bottle, four times the size of a standard bottle. It is the most famous of a number of wine bottles with biblical names. The following table is adapted from Wikipedia’s entry on “Wine bottle”
| Bottle Name | Name’s Origin | Volume in Litres |
|---|---|---|
| Jeroboam | First king of Northern Kingdom of Israel | 3.0/4.5 |
| Rehoboam | First king of Southern Kingdom of Judea | 4.5 |
| Methuselah | Oldest Man | 6.0 |
| Mordechai | Uncle of Esther, Queen of Persia | 9.0 |
| Salmanazar | King of Assyria | 9.0 |
| Balthazar | Traditional name for one of the wise men | 12.0 |
| Nebuchadnezzar | King of Babylon | 15.0 |
| Melchior | Traditional name for one of the wise men | 18.0 |
| Solomon | King of Israel, Son of David | 20.0 |
| Melchizedek | Early priest and king of Salem (Jerusalem) | 30.0 |
Curiously, no-one knows why biblical names are used for wine bottles. The term Jeroboam appears to have been used in Bordeaux from as early as 1725. Perhaps it was because Jeroboam is described as a “mighty man of valour” (1 Kings 11:28 KJV) “who made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 14:16 KJV). Other names are likely to have been used by analogy.
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