 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."