Ichor


In Greek mythology, ichor is the ethereal fluid that is the blood of the gods and/or immortals.

In classical myth

Ichor originates in Greek mythology, where it is the ethereal fluid that is the Greek gods' blood, sometimes said to retain the qualities of the immortals' food and drink, ambrosia and nectar. Great heroes and demigods occasionally attacked gods and released ichor, but gods rarely did so to each other in Homeric myth.
In Ancient Crete, tradition told of Talos, a giant man of bronze portrayed with wings. When Cretan mythology was appropriated by the 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 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.

In medicine

In pathology, "ichor" is an antiquated term for a watery discharge from a wound or ulcer, with an unpleasant or smell.
The Greek Christian writer Clement of Alexandria used "ichor" in the ancient medical understanding of a foul-smelling watery discharge from a wound or ulcer, 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 adds, "And 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."