InGreek mythology,ichor (/ˈaɪkər/) is theethereal fluid that is theblood of thegods and/orimmortals. TheAncient Greek wordἰχώρ (ikhṓr) is of uncertain etymology, and has been suggested to be a foreign word, possibly thepre-Greek substrate.[1]
Ichor originates inGreek mythology, where it is the "ethereal fluid" that is theblood 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] Greatheroes anddemigods occasionally attacked gods and released ichor, but gods rarely did so to each other inHomeric myth.[original research?]
According toG.S. Kirk, the term is used in the sense of "divine equivalent of blood" only twice, in the Homeric passages of theIliad.[5] The goddess Athena confers on Diomedes the ability to distinguish gods and mortals, and grants specific permission to wound Aphrodite.[7]:
πρυμνὸν ὕπερ θέναρος·[a] ῥέε δ᾽ ἄμβροτον αἷμα θεοῖο
ἰχώρ, οἷός πέρ τε ῥέει μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν·
οὐ γὰρ σῖτον ἔδουσ᾽, οὐ πίνουσ᾽ αἴθοπα οἶνον,
τοὔνεκ᾽ ἀναίμονές εἰσι καὶ ἀθάνατοι καλέονται·
[His spear.. struck Aphrodite at the base of her palm,][10] Blood[flowed], but immortal[blood at that]: ichor pure,
Such as the blessed inhabitants of heaven may bleed,
For the Gods eat not man's food,
Nor[drink sparkling] wine,
For they are bloodless and[called] death-exempt[Athanatoi, or "Immortals"].[b]
-Griechische_Bilderchroniken-pl_II-Sarti_tabuli_iIliaca-detail.jpg)
The scene where Diomedes with spear is on the verge of confronting and wounding Aphrodite is depicted on the Sartitabula iliaca (cf. fig. right).[6]
In the second passage shortly after in theIliad whereichor recurs, Aphrodite (Dione) merely wipes theichor (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.[5]
InAncient Crete, tradition told ofTalos, a giant man ofbronze[14] and ichor.[15][16]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 theArgonauts arrived (having already acquired theGolden Fleece), Talos threw boulders at their ship. The sorceressMedea 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.[17][14] InApollonius of Rhodes's account, Talos nicked its ankle on a crag and the precious ichor gushed out like molten lead.[18]
Prometheus was aTitan, 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 tomandrake 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 theKaukasos.[19][20]
BecauseAlexander the Great fashioned himself as a son of god, once when he received injury that drew blood, the grapplerDioxippus told the king "That is 'ichor', such as flows in the veins of the blessed gods", according toAristobulus of Cassandreia[22]Plutarch inParallel Lives has the king himself say "This, you see, is blood, and not 'ichor', etc.".[23]
Inpathology, "ichor" is an antiquated term for a waterydischarge from a wound or ulcer, with an unpleasant orfetid (offensive) smell.[24]
The GreekChristian writerClement of Alexandria deliberately confoundedichor 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 paganGreek 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.[25]
Translated into English blank verse
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