Ambrosia

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This article is about the food or drink of the gods. For other uses, see Ambrosia (disambiguation).

In ancient mythology, Ambrosia (Greek αμβροσία) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods. The word has generally been derived from Greek a- ("not") and mbrotos ("mortal"); hence the food or drink of the immortals. Thetis anointed the infant Achilles with ambrosia and passed the child through the fire to make him immortal—a familiar Phoenician custom—but Peleus, appalled, stopped her. In Iliad xvi, Apollo washed the black blood from the corpse of Sarpedon and anointed it with ambrosia, readied for its dreamlike return to Sarpedon's native Lycia. The classical scholar Arthur Woollgar Verrall, however, denied that there is any clear example in which the word ambrosios necessarily means immortal, and preferred to explain it as "fragrant," a sense which is always suitable. If so, the word may be derived from the Semitic MBR ("amber", which when burned is resinously fragrant; compare "ambergris") to which Eastern nations attribute miraculous properties. In Europe, honey-colored amber, sometimes far from its natural source, was already a grave gift in Neolithic times and was still worn in the 7th century CE as a talisman by druidic Frisians, though St. Eligius warned "No woman should presume to hang amber from her neck." W. H. Roscher thinks that both nectar and ambrosia were kinds of honey, in which case their power of conferring immortality would be due to the supposed healing and cleansing power of honey, which is in fact aseptic, and because fermented honey (mead) preceded wine as an entheogen in the Aegean world: the Great Goddess of Crete on some Minoan seals had a bee face: compare Merope and Melissa. See also Ichor.

One of the impieties of Tantalus, according to Pindar, was that he offered to his guests the ambrosia of the Deathless Ones, a theft akin to that of Prometheus, Karl Kerenyi noted (in Heroes of the Greeks). Circe mentioned to Odysseus that a flock of doves brought the ambrosia to Olympus.

Derivatively, the word Ambrosia (neuter plural) was given to certain festivals in honour of Dionysus, probably because of the predominance of feasting in connection with them.

"Ambrosia" is related to the Hindu amrita, a drink which conferred immortality on the gods.

In Greek mythology, one of the Hyades.

Many modern scholars, including Danny Staples, relate ambrosia to the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria. [1]

[edit] Pop culture

Ambrosia Custard is the name of a brand of custard, sold throughout the UK, the company also makes other similar products, with the same name.
"Ambrosia Drunk" was the title of a track on the Surprise Me Mr. Davis album. Created during a single weekend stuck inside during a particularly brutal Boston snowstorm, Surprise Me Mr. Davis is The Slip with Nathan Moore of ThaMuseMeant.
Ambrosia is a line of cigars by Drew Estate.
Ambrosia is the name of a progressive/experimental band from Los Angeles.
Ambrosia is a Dutch brand of mead.
Ambrosia is a powerup the player can pick up in the old NES game The Battle of Olympus. The ambrosia will boost the player's max health points by six.
The name Amiya in Hindi means nectar or ambrosia
Ambrosia is a type of liquor in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. It has been shown in wine glasses at a formal dinner but also as a drink requiring a chaser, suggesting potency.
Ambrosia is the name of the only chemical that is capable of curing the Gray Death virus in the Deus Ex universe. The name might be a suggestion to the fact that only the 'elite' classes and not the commoners were given access to the cure
Ambrosia is the name of the female protagonist in the Japanese manga Alexandrite, sequel to the manga Cipher, by mangaka Narita Minako. It is also the food of the mortals