Ambrosia Tattoo Meaning

The divine in the ordinary, sustenance, and the food of the gods in a common weed.

Ambrosia is the food of the gods — the divine sustenance of the Olympians that conferred immortality, sweeter than honey, the very substance of the deathless; and, in a strange irony, the name later given to a common allergenic weed. To carry Ambrosia is to carry the divine in the ordinary, sustenance, and the food of the gods in a common weed — the immortal nourishment of Olympus, the 'not-of-mortal-kind' substance that distinguished gods from humans, the divine name fallen to a humble plant.

In Greek mythology, ambrosia was the food and drink of the Olympian gods — the divine sustenance of the immortals, eaten and drunk by the gods of Olympus. Ambrosia (often paired with nectar, the gods' drink) was no ordinary food: it was the very substance that maintained their immortality, the divine nourishment by which the gods preserved their deathless, ageless nature. To partake of ambrosia was to sustain the immortal life; it was the food of the deathless, the substance of the gods' unending existence.

Ambrosia was extraordinary in every way. It was said to be nine times sweeter than honey — a sweetness beyond any earthly sweetness, an exquisite, supernatural deliciousness fit for the gods. And it could not be approached by mortality without risk: ambrosia belonged to the divine realm, and for a mortal to consume it was dangerous, even forbidden — for it was not meant for human kind, and to taste the food of the gods could confer immortality or bring destruction, blurring the line between the human and the divine that the gods guarded. Ambrosia thus embodied the concept of the unreachable perfect sustenance — the ideal, supernatural food, infinitely sweet and life-giving, that belonged to the gods alone and lay beyond the safe reach of mortals. It is the food of immortality, the perfect divine nourishment, the very substance of the deathless life that humans could only imagine and never safely taste. The Greek ambrosia is the food of the gods that conferred immortality — nine times sweeter than honey, perilous for mortals to taste. The Greek ambrosia is the food of the gods — the food and drink of the Olympian gods, the substance that maintained their immortality, nine times sweeter than honey, that could not be approached by mortality without risk; the divine nourishment by which the gods preserved their deathless nature, belonging to the divine realm and dangerous or forbidden for mortals to consume — the concept of the unreachable perfect sustenance, the ideal supernatural food infinitely sweet and life-giving that belonged to the gods alone, the very substance of the deathless life humans could only imagine.

Ambrosia in Greek myth was the sustenance of the gods — sometimes described as food, sometimes as a drink (with nectar being the distinction), sometimes as an ointment applied to the body to maintain divine beauty and prevent decay. The etymology is a-brotos: not mortal. In Victorian flower language, the plant genus Ambrosia (ragweed) was given the meaning 'your love is reciprocated' — a meaning entirely disconnected from the plant's actual character (it is wind-pollinated, produces no visible flower of note to speak of, and is responsible for much of late-summer hay fever). The mythological content is where the depth lives in this entry.

Ambrosia across cultures

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