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{{Short description|Blood of gods in Greek mythology}}
{{Short description|Blood of gods in Greek mythology}}
{{About|the mythological term|the modern meaning|Bile}}
{{About|the mythological term|the modern meaning|Bile|the album|Ichor (album)}}
{{Original research|date=April 2019}}


In [[Greek mythology]], '''ichor''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|k|ər}}) is the [[aether (classical element)|ethereal]] fluid that is the [[blood]] of the [[list of Greek deities|gods]] and/or [[immortality|immortals]]. The [[Ancient Greek]] word {{wikt-lang|grc|ἰχώρ}} ({{grc-transl|ἰχώρ}}) is of uncertain etymology, and has been suggested to be a foreign word, possibly the [[Pre-Greek substrate]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Beekes |first=R. S. P. |author-link=Robert S. P. Beekes |year=2009 |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |pages=607–08}}</ref>
In [[Greek mythology]], '''ichor''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|k|ər}}) is the [[aether (classical element)|ethereal]] fluid making up the [[blood]] of the [[list of Greek deities|gods]] and/or [[immortality|immortals]]. The [[Ancient Greek]] word {{wikt-lang|grc|ἰχώρ}} ({{grc-transl|ἰχώρ}}) is of uncertain etymology, and has been suggested to be a foreign word, possibly the [[pre-Greek substrate]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Beekes |first=R. S. P. |author-link=Robert S. P. Beekes |year=2009 |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |pages=607–08}}</ref>


==In classical myth==
==In classical myth==
Ichor originates in [[Greek mythology]], where it is the "ethereal fluid" that is the [[blood]] of the Greek gods, sometimes said to retain the qualities of the immortals' food and drink, [[ambrosia]] and nectar.<ref name=Homer-Cowper-1802-Iliad/> Ichor is described as toxic to humans, killing them instantly if they came in contact with it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ichor |publisher=Greek Mythology (greekmythology.com) |lang=en |url=https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Elements/Ichor/ichor.html |access-date=2021-01-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ichor – ancient Greek element |publisher=Greek Gods & Goddesses |lang=en-US |series=Greek Gods & Goddesses |url=https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/myths/ichor/ |access-date=2021-01-26}}</ref> Great [[hero]]es and [[demigod]]s occasionally attacked gods and released ichor, but gods rarely did so to each other in [[Homer]]ic myth.{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}}
Ichor originates in [[Greek mythology]], where it is the "ethereal fluid" that is the [[blood]] of the Greek gods, sometimes said to retain the qualities of the immortals' food and drink, [[ambrosia]] and nectar.<ref name="Homer-tr-Cowper-1802-Iliad"/> Ichor is described as toxic to humans, killing them instantly if they came in contact with it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ichor |publisher=Greek Mythology (greekmythology.com) |url=https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Elements/Ichor/ichor.html |access-date=2021-01-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ichor – ancient Greek element |publisher=Greek Gods & Goddesses |series=Greek Gods & Goddesses |url=https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/myths/ichor/ |access-date=2021-01-26}}</ref> Great [[hero]]es and [[demigod]]s occasionally attacked gods and released ichor, but gods rarely did so to each other in [[Homer]]ic myth.{{Original research inline|date=April 2019}}


{{Poem quote|'''''Iliad'' V. 339–342:'''
According to [[Geoffrey Kirk|G.S. Kirk]], the term is used in the sense of "divine equivalent of blood" only twice, in the Homeric passages of the ''[[Iliad]]''.<ref name="kirk1990"/> The goddess Athena confers on Diomedes the ability to distinguish gods and mortals, and grants specific permission to wound Aphrodite.{{Refn|''Iliad'' vv. 334–339, ''apud'' Heslin (2015).<ref name="heslin2015"/>}}:
{{grey|[not]}} Blood follow'd, but immortal ichor pure,
Such as the blest inhabitants of heav'n<
May bleed, nectareous; for the Gods eat not
Man's food, nor slake as he with sable wine
Their thirst, thence bloodless and from death exempt.{{sup|†}}


:{{small|† &nbsp; We are not to understand that the poet ascribes the immortality of the Gods to their abstinence from the drink and food of man, for most animals partake of neither, but the expression is elliptic and requires to be supplied thus – they drink not wine but nectar, eat not the food of mortals, but ambrosia; thence it is that they are bloodless and exempt from death.}}
{{verse translation
|W. Cowper,<ref name=Homer-Cowper-1802-Iliad/> {{small|citing a [[scholia|remark]] by [[Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison|J. de Villoison]]}}}}
|lang1=grc|italicsoff=y|
:πρυμνὸν ὕπερ θέναρος·{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|"root of the palm of the hand".<ref name="Homer-ed-Leaf-1900-Iliad"/>}} ῥέε δ᾽ ἄμβροτον αἷμα θεοῖο&nbsp;&nbsp;
:'''''ἰχώρ''''', οἷός πέρ τε ῥέει μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν·
:οὐ γὰρ σῖτον ἔδουσ᾽, οὐ πίνουσ᾽ αἴθοπα οἶνον,
:τοὔνεκ᾽ ἀναίμονές εἰσι καὶ ἀθάνατοι καλέονται·
|attr1=''Iliad'' vv. 339–342:<ref>{{cite wikisource |plaintitle=Homeri Opera, vol. 1 |plainchapter=5. ΙΛΙΑΔΟΣ Ε | scan=Σελίδα:Homeri Opera, vol. 1 (1920).djvu/135 |date=1920 |wslanguage=el}} (djvu only)</ref>
|lang2=en|
[His spear.. struck Aphrodite at the base of her palm,]<ref>Cowper gives "He wounded.. Her inside wrist, fast by the rosy palm" in the preceding lines.</ref> Blood {{grey|[flowed]}}, but immortal {{grey|[blood at that]}}: ichor pure,
Such as the blessed inhabitants of heaven may bleed,
For the Gods eat not man's food,
Nor {{grey|[drink sparkling]}} wine,
{{grey|For they are}} bloodless and {{grey|[called]}} death-exempt {{grey|[''[[Athanatoi (disambiguation)|Athanatoi]]'', or "Immortals"]}}.{{efn|The editor footnotes the [[scholia|scholium]] by [[Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison|J. de Villoison]]: "We are not to understand that the poet ascribes the immortality of the Gods to their abstinence from the drink and food of man, for most animals partake of neither, but the expression is elliptic and requires to be supplied thus – they drink not wine but nectar, eat not the food of mortals, but ambrosia; thence it is that they are ''bloodless and exempt from death''."}}
|attr2=Based on W. Cowper,<ref name="Homer-tr-Cowper-1802-Iliad"/> modernized spellings.{{Refn|Compare modern translation by [[Richmond Lattimore]] (1951): "and blood immortal flowed from the goddess,/ ichor, that which runs in the veins of the blessed divinities.." quoted by Olaf Almqvist.<ref name="almqvist2022"/>}}
}}
[[File:Jahn(1873)-Griechische Bilderchroniken-pl II-Sarti tabuli iIliaca-detail.jpg|thumb|400px|Scene from the ''Iliad'' in the Sarti ''[[Tabulae Iliacae|tabula iliaca]]''. Instigated by Athena (far left), Dimoedes makes an upward attack.{{efn|[[Pandarus]]'s corpse lies on ground.}} Aeneas  holding sword is almost toppling, and Aphrodite (far right) hastens to help her son.<ref name="jahn&michaelis1873"/>]]
The scene where  Diomedes with spear is on the verge of confronting and wounding Aphrodite is depicted on the Sarti ''[[Tabulae Iliacae|tabula iliaca]]'' (cf. fig. right).<ref name="heslin2015"/>


In [[Ancient Crete]], tradition told of [[Talos]], a giant man of [[bronze]]. When [[Crete|Cretan]] [[mythology]] was appropriated by the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]], they imagined him more like the [[Colossus of Rhodes]]. He possessed a single vein running with ichor that was stoppered by a nail in his back. Talos guarded [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]] on Crete and threw boulders at intruders, until the [[Argonauts]] came after the acquisition of the [[Golden Fleece]], and the sorceress [[Medea]] took out the nail, releasing the ichor and killing him.<ref>{{cite book |first=William |last=Smith |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |volume=III |place=London, UK |year=1849 |page=973}}</ref>
In the second passage shortly after in the ''Iliad'' where ''ichor'' recurs, Aphrodite (Dione) merely wipes the ''ichor'' ({{lang|grc|'''ἰχῶ'''}}, v. 416) with both her hands, and she is none the worse for wear. So despite the agony it carried, the wound inflicted by the mortal turned out to be but a slight one.<ref name="kirk1990"/>


<blockquote>It [a magical herb] first appeared in a plant that sprang from the blood-like ichor of Prometheus in his torment, which the flesh-eating Eagle had dropped on the spurs of the [[Caucasus Mountains|Kaukasos]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rhodius |first=Apollonius |title=The Argonautica |chapter=3.851-853}}</ref>{{full citation|date=September 2021|reason=pub. date, edition, publisher req. to make page nr. meaningful, and pg. nr. is indeed req. for quote}}</blockquote>
In [[Ancient Crete]], tradition told of [[Talos]], a giant man of [[bronze]]<ref name="DictGkRom1849-talos"/> and ichor.<ref name="mattingly&cibralic2025"/><ref name="neer2010"/> [[Apollodotus]] explains that Talos had a single vein running from neck to ankle, pinned down by bronze nails. Talos encircled the island, guarding it, so that when the [[Argonauts]] arrived (having already acquired the [[Golden Fleece]]), Talos threw boulders at their ship. The sorceress [[Medea]] defeated it by either driving it to madness with drugs, or falsely promising to give it immortality, and pulling out the nail (presumably the lower one at the ankle) draining out all its ichor.<ref name="apollodorus1921"/><ref name="DictGkRom1849-talos"/> In [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]'s account, Talos nicked its ankle on a crag and the precious ichor gushed out like molten lead.<ref name="apollonius2014"/>


[[Prometheus]] was a [[Titans|Titan]], who made humans and stole fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals, and consequently was punished by Zeus for all eternity. Prometheus was chained to a rock for his sin, and his liver was eaten daily by an eagle. His liver would then regrow, just to be eaten again, repeated for all eternity. Prometheus bled ichor, a golden{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}, blood-like substance that would cause a magical herb to sprout when it touched the ground.
[[Prometheus]] was a [[Titans|Titan]], who made humans and stole fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals, and consequently was punished by Zeus for all eternity. Prometheus was chained to a rock for his sin, and his liver was eaten daily by an eagle. His liver would then regrow, just to be eaten again, repeated for all eternity. Prometheus bled ichor, a blood-like substance that would cause a magical herb to sprout when it touched the ground (cf. connection to [[mandrake]] lore):
 
<blockquote>It [a magical herb] first appeared in a plant that sprang from the blood-like ichor of Prometheus in his torment, which the flesh-eating Eagle had dropped on the spurs of the [[Caucasus Mountains|Kaukasos]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rhodius |first=Apollonius |translator=E.V. Rieu |translator-link=E.V. Rieu |chapter=3.851-853　|title=The Voyage of Argo |publisher=Penguin UK |date=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MA_cg_QaZoQC&pg=PT139 |pages=<!--unpaginated-->}}</ref><ref name="clark1968"/></blockquote>
 
==As allusion==
Because [[Alexander the Great]] fashioned himself as a son of god, once when he received injury that drew blood, the grappler [[Dioxippus]] told the king "That is 'ichor', such as flows in the veins of the blessed gods", according to [[Aristobulus of Cassandreia]]{{Refn|Aristobulus fr. 47{{=}}Athen. Vi, 251A. ''apud'' Tarn (1979).<ref name="tarn1979"/>}} [[Plutarch]] in ''[[Parallel Lives]]'' has the king himself say "This, you see, is blood, and not 'ichor', etc.".{{Refn|Plutarch. ''Alexander'' xxviii,  ''apud'' Tarn (1979).<ref name="tarn1979"/>}}


==In medicine==
==In medicine==
In [[pathology]], "ichor" is an antiquated term for a watery [[Pus|discharge from a wound or ulcer]], with an unpleasant or [[wiktionary:fetid|fetid]] (offensive) smell.<ref>
In [[pathology]], "ichor" is an antiquated term for a watery [[Pus|discharge from a wound or ulcer]], with an unpleasant or [[wiktionary:fetid|fetid]] (offensive) smell.<ref>{{cite dictionary  |title = Ichor  |type = definition |dictionary = Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedia |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ichor}}</ref>
{{cite dictionary  
  |title = Ichor  
  |type = definition
|dictionary = Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedia
|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ichor
}}
</ref>  


The Greek [[Christianity|Christian]] writer [[Clement of Alexandria]] deliberately confounded ''ichor'' in its medical sense as a foul-smelling watery discharge from a wound or ulcer with its mythological sense as the blood of the gods, in a polemic against the pagan [[Greek gods]]. As part of his evidence that they are merely mortal, he cites several cases in which the gods are wounded physically, and then asserts that
The Greek [[Christianity|Christian]] writer [[Clement of Alexandria]] deliberately confounded ''ichor'' in its medical sense as a foul-smelling watery discharge from a wound or ulcer with its mythological sense as the blood of the gods, in a polemic against the pagan [[Greek gods]]. As part of his evidence that they are merely mortal, he cites several cases in which the gods are wounded physically, and then asserts that


<blockquote>if there are wounds, there is blood. For the ichor of the poets is more repulsive than blood; for the putrefaction of blood is called ichor.<ref name="ClementExhort">
<blockquote>if there are wounds, there is blood. For the ichor of the poets is more repulsive than blood; for the putrefaction of blood is called ichor.<ref name="ClementExhort">{{cite book |last=Clement of Alexandria |chapter=Protrepticus |title=Exhortation to the Heathen |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-exhortation.html |access-date=16 December 2016}}</ref></blockquote>
{{cite book
|last=Clement of Alexandria
|chapter=Protrepticus
|title=Exhortation to the Heathen
|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-exhortation.html
|access-date=16 December 2016
}}
</ref></blockquote>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 50: Line 49:
*[[Ectoplasm (paranormal)]]
*[[Ectoplasm (paranormal)]]
*[[Petrichor]]
*[[Petrichor]]
==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|25em|refs=
{{reflist|25em|refs=
<ref name="almqvist2022">{{cite book|last=Almqvist |first=Olaf |author-link=<!--Olaf Almqvist--> |title=Chaos, Cosmos and Creation in Early Greek Theogonies: An Ontological Exploration |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2022 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMlQEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |page=4 |isbn=<!--1350221880, , -->9781350221888}}</ref>
<ref name="apollodorus1921">{{cite book|author=Apollodorus |author-link=Bibliotheca (Apollodorus) |translator=James George Frazer |translator-link=James George Frazer |chapter=I.ix.26 |title=The Library |volume=1 |series=Loeb classical library |publisher=William Heinemann |year=1921 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqUNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA119  |pages=118–119 |language=grc, en}}</ref>
<ref name="apollonius2014">{{cite book|author=Apollonius of Rhodes |author-link=Apollonius of Rhodes |chapter=''Argonautica'' IV: 1679–1680 |title=Delphi Complete Works of Apollonius of Rhodes (Illustrated)  |publisher=Delphi Classics |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zfKTBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT927  |pages=<!--unpaginated--> |language=el, en}}</ref>


<ref name=Homer-Cowper-1802-Iliad>
<ref name="clark1968">{{cite journal|last=Clark |first=Raymond J. |author-link=<!--Raymond J. Clark--> |title=A Note on Medea's Plant and the Mandrake |journal=Folklore |volume=79 |number=3 |date=Autumn 1968 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anINAQAAMAAJ&q=%22blood-like+ichor%22 |page=227, n1<!--227–231--> |jstor=1258842}}</ref>
{{cite book
 
|author=[[Homer]]
<ref name="DictGkRom1849-talos">{{cite dictionary|last=Smith  |first=William |author-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |title=Talos |dictionary=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |volume=3 |place=London, UK |publisher=Taylor Walton and Maberly |year=1849 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rIsS4YOW5J8C&pg=PA973 |page=973}}</ref>
|translator-first=William |translator-last=Cowper
 
  |editor-first=John |editor-last=Johnson
<ref name="heslin2015">{{cite book|last=Heslin |first=Peter |author-link=<!--Peter Heslin--> |title=The Museum of Augustus: The Temple of Apollo in Pompeii, the Portico of Philippus in Rome, and Latin Poetry  |publisher=Getty Publications |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wpb1CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |at=p. 77 and fig. 30, 31|isbn=<!--1606064215, -->9781606064214 }}</ref>
|year=1802
 
|title=The Iliad of Homer
<ref name="Homer-tr-Cowper-1802-Iliad">{{cite book |author=Homer |author-link=Homer |translator-first=William |translator-last=Cowper |translator-link=William Cowper |editor-first=John |editor-last=Johnson |editor-link=John Johnson (clergyman) |year=1802 |title=The Iliad of Homer |quote=Translated into English blank verse |volume=1 |at=''Iliad'' V, 364–382 (p. 153) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1LRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA153}}</ref>
|quote=Translated into English blank verse
 
|volume=1
<ref name="Homer-ed-Leaf-1900-Iliad">{{cite book|author=Homer |author-link=:en:Homer |editor-last=Leaf |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=:en:Walter Leaf |title=The Iliad: Books 1-12 |edition=2 |publisher=Macmillan and Company |year=1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0taO1_HtxrYC&pg=PA217 |at=note to v. 319, p. 217 }}</ref>
|at=''Iliad'' V, 364–382 (p. 153)
 
  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1LRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA153
<ref name="jahn&michaelis1873">{{cite book |editor1-last=Jahn |editor1-first=Otto |editor1-link=Otto Jahn|editor2-last=Michaelis |editor2-first=Adolf |editor2-link=Adolf Michaelis |others=lithograph by [[:de:Aimé Henry|Aimé Henry]] |title=Griechische Bilderchroniken|location=Bonn |publisher=Adolph Marcus |year=1873 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-i8xAQAAMAAJpg~PA24 |page=14 |doi=10.11588/diglit.14371#0143}} [https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/jahn1873/0001/image,info,thumbs digitized]@U. Heidelberg</ref>
}}
 
</ref>
<ref name="kirk1990">{{cite book|last=Kirk |first=G.S. |author-link=Geoffrey Kirk |title=The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 2, Books 5-8 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6r1nI-L8ZEkC&pg=PA104 |at=note to v. 416, p.&nbsp;104 |isbn=<!--0521281725, -->9780521281720}}</ref>
 
<ref name="mattingly&cibralic2025">{{cite book|last1=Mattingly |first1=James |author1-link=<!--James Mattingly--> |last2=Cibralic |first2=Beba |author2-link=<!--Beba Cibralic--> |title=Machine Agency |publisher=MIT Press |date=2025 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZkHEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |page=21 |isbn=<!--026238096X, -->9780262380966}}</ref>
 
<ref name="neer2010">{{cite book|last=Neer |first=Richard |author-link=<!--Richard Neer (academic)--> |title=The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture  |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oInWi4dvzgcC&pg=PA109 |page=109 |isbn=<!--0226570657, -->9780226570655}}</ref>


<ref name="tarn1979">{{cite book|last=Tarn |first=William Woodthorpe |author-link=William Woodthorpe Tarn |title=Alexander the Great: Volume 2, Sources and Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUymb61z_DUC&pg=PA358 |pages=358–359|isbn=<!--0521531373, -->9780226570655}}</ref>
}}
}}


Latest revision as of 15:20, 19 November 2025

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about".

In Greek mythology, ichor (Template:IPAc-en) is the ethereal fluid making up the blood of the gods and/or immortals. The Ancient Greek word Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Grc-transl) is of uncertain etymology, and has been suggested to be a foreign word, possibly the pre-Greek substrate.[1]

In classical myth

Ichor originates in Greek mythology, where it is the "ethereal fluid" that is the blood of the Greek gods, sometimes said to retain the qualities of the immortals' food and drink, ambrosia and nectar.[2] Ichor is described as toxic to humans, killing them instantly if they came in contact with it.[3][4] Great heroes and demigods occasionally attacked gods and released ichor, but gods rarely did so to each other in Homeric myth.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

According to G.S. Kirk, the term is used in the sense of "divine equivalent of blood" only twice, in the Homeric passages of the Iliad.[5] The goddess Athena confers on Diomedes the ability to distinguish gods and mortals, and grants specific permission to wound Aphrodite.Template:Refn:

Template:Verse translation

File:Jahn(1873)-Griechische Bilderchroniken-pl II-Sarti tabuli iIliaca-detail.jpg
Scene from the Iliad in the Sarti tabula iliaca. Instigated by Athena (far left), Dimoedes makes an upward attack.Template:Efn Aeneas holding sword is almost toppling, and Aphrodite (far right) hastens to help her son.[6]

The scene where Diomedes with spear is on the verge of confronting and wounding Aphrodite is depicted on the Sarti tabula iliaca (cf. fig. right).[7]

In the second passage shortly after in the Iliad where ichor recurs, Aphrodite (Dione) merely wipes the ichor (Script error: No such module "Lang"., v. 416) with both her hands, and she is none the worse for wear. So despite the agony it carried, the wound inflicted by the mortal turned out to be but a slight one.[5]

In Ancient Crete, tradition told of Talos, a giant man of bronze[8] and ichor.[9][10] Apollodotus explains that Talos had a single vein running from neck to ankle, pinned down by bronze nails. Talos encircled the island, guarding it, so that when the Argonauts arrived (having already acquired the Golden Fleece), Talos threw boulders at their ship. The sorceress Medea defeated it by either driving it to madness with drugs, or falsely promising to give it immortality, and pulling out the nail (presumably the lower one at the ankle) draining out all its ichor.[11][8] In Apollonius of Rhodes's account, Talos nicked its ankle on a crag and the precious ichor gushed out like molten lead.[12]

Prometheus was a Titan, who made humans and stole fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals, and consequently was punished by Zeus for all eternity. Prometheus was chained to a rock for his sin, and his liver was eaten daily by an eagle. His liver would then regrow, just to be eaten again, repeated for all eternity. Prometheus bled ichor, a blood-like substance that would cause a magical herb to sprout when it touched the ground (cf. connection to mandrake lore):

It [a magical herb] first appeared in a plant that sprang from the blood-like ichor of Prometheus in his torment, which the flesh-eating Eagle had dropped on the spurs of the Kaukasos.[13][14]

As allusion

Because Alexander the Great fashioned himself as a son of god, once when he received injury that drew blood, the grappler Dioxippus told the king "That is 'ichor', such as flows in the veins of the blessed gods", according to Aristobulus of CassandreiaTemplate:Refn Plutarch in Parallel Lives has the king himself say "This, you see, is blood, and not 'ichor', etc.".Template:Refn

In medicine

In pathology, "ichor" is an antiquated term for a watery discharge from a wound or ulcer, with an unpleasant or fetid (offensive) smell.[15]

The Greek Christian writer Clement of Alexandria deliberately confounded ichor in its medical sense as a foul-smelling watery discharge from a wound or ulcer with its mythological sense as the blood of the gods, in a polemic against the pagan Greek gods. As part of his evidence that they are merely mortal, he cites several cases in which the gods are wounded physically, and then asserts that

if there are wounds, there is blood. For the ichor of the poets is more repulsive than blood; for the putrefaction of blood is called ichor.[16]

See also

Explanatory notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:Greek religion

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Homer-tr-Cowper-1802-Iliad
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named kirk1990
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named jahn&michaelis1873
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named heslin2015
  8. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DictGkRom1849-talos
  9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mattingly&cibralic2025
  10. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named neer2010
  11. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named apollodorus1921
  12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named apollonius2014
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named clark1968
  15. ↑ Template:Cite dictionary
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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