Ambrosia

AMBROSIA. - Greek word meaning "immortal": it is used together with "nectar" to indicate the nourishment of the gods. In the Iliad it has a broader meaning; it is the food of the horses of the gods, an ointment that preserves corpses from corruption or heals wounds, etc. Homer always joins ambrosia and nectar as, for mortals, he joins food and drink: hence a certain uncertainty in the interpretation of the two words. In general ambrosia is the food and nectar the divine drink, more rarely the opposite. Hellenistic antiquarians and some moderns have identified ambrosia and nectar with honey, but in general the hypothesis is rejected. Ambrosia and nectar were divine food, reserved for the gods, invented by Demeter or issuing from the horns of the goat Amalthea. In the Odyssey Calypso feeds on it, while Odysseus was served the foods of humans. Only by special grace is it granted to mortals, to whom it confers immortality.

Luisa Banti