ambrosia (lit. ‘immortality’)

and nectar are the food and drink of eternal life—usually in that order. They are thus properly reserved for the gods, as traditional stories emphasize: see Odyssey 5 on Odysseus' meals with Calypso. Heracles was formally served with a draught of immortal spirit by Athena on his assumption into Olympus, but the dying Tydeus was refused the same favour at the last moment when the goddess found him devouring his enemy's brain. One version of Tantalus' crime claims that, having tasted divine food himself, he tried to smuggle some away for others who were not so privileged. Those who ingest such rarefied substances naturally have not blood but a special fluid called ichor coursing through their veins. As the ultimate preservative, ambrosia may also be administered by goddesses to their favourites by external application: it is used by Thetis to keep Patroclus' corpse fresh and by Athena to sustain the fasting Achilles, and as a face cream to beautify Penelope.