Daniel 1:4

children, young men of the middle adolescent period, between the ages of sixteen and twenty, in whom was no blemish, that is, no physical defect, so that they would be faultlessly handsome, but well favored, this being considered essential among Oriental nations in the case of those destined for court service, and skilful in all wisdom, with the evident talent to acquire knowledge and ability rapidly, and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, that is, with good, sound judgment and common sense in applying the knowledge which they possessed and gained, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, to become accustomed to the ways and manners of a king's court, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans, that of the learned classes of the Babylonian people. Their course of study would thus comprise all that was taught in the highest schools of the empire, and their training would be that of the noblest youths of the empire.