Editing Ichor

{{Short description|Blood of gods in Greek mythology}}
{{About|the mythological term|the modern meaning|Bile}}
{{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 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}}

{{Poem quote|'''''Iliad'' V. 339–342:'''
{{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.}}
|W. Cowper,<ref name=Homer-Cowper-1802-Iliad/> {{small|citing a [[scholia|remark]] by [[Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison|J. de Villoison]]}}}}

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>

<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>

[[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.

==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>
{{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

<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>

==See also==
*[[Blood of Christ]]
*[[Ectoplasm (paranormal)]]
*[[Petrichor]]

==References==
{{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Homer-Cowper-1802-Iliad>
{{cite book
 |author=[[Homer]]
 |translator-first=William  |translator-last=Cowper
 |editor-first=John  |editor-last=Johnson
 |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>

}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Blood]]
[[Category:Mythological substances]]
[[Category:Objects in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Vitalism]]