Research On The River Styx
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Research On The River Styx
This is information that I have collected from hints, rumours, tales, legends, stories, old books, popular belief and the like. Who knows how relevant any of it is. Please feel free to add your own information to the page, whether you are planning to go on this adventure or not.-Viola
Viola's Information
Number of Rivers:
In one account, the river Styx is the only river of the underworld; in another it is coupled with Cocytus and Pyriphlegethon, which flow into the chief river Acheron. The river Lethe made the shades of the underworld forget their former lives. But the river Styx was always the best known, and the most sacred.
Another account states:
There are five rivers that separate Hades from the world of the living, they are:
- Acheron - the river of woe;
- Cocytus - the river of lamentation;
- Phlegethon - the river of fire;
- Lethe - the river of forgetfulness;
- Styx - the river of hate.
Effects of Drinking:
The water is said to be so foul that the god would lose his/her voice for nine years.
Some said the river was so foul that to drink of it brought instant death.
It is said to make people immortal and invulnerable.
It is said that it rends the soul from the body.
Locations of things:
Many accounts say:
In mythology the River Styx ran through Arcadia from a snow-fed spring on Mount Chelmus and descended a wild gorge into the Underworld. It then divided and wound nine times around the kingdom of Hades.
Another Scholar states:
The river Styx is a river that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. It is said that it winds around Hades (or the underworld) nine times. Its name comes from the word stugein which means hate, Styx, the river of hate.
Dante put Phlegyas over the Styx and made it the fifth circle of Hell, where the wrathful and sullen are punished by being perpetually drowned in the muddy waters.
Charon
Many scholars think that Charon, the old ferry man who ferries the dead onto the underworld, crosses the river Styx.
Others think Charon crosses the river Acheron where Cerebus stands his eternal guard.
Though in the original oldest sources, it was the river Acheron that Charon plied. More recent documents say it is the river Styx.
Cerebus
On the other side of the river the dragon tailed (or three headed) dog Cerberus guards the gates, allowing all souls to enter but none to leave.
Other accounts state that Cerebus guards the gate to the underworld which may or may not be on the 3rd level.
Other inhabitants of the Underworld are:
Sisyphus, who was forever condemned to push a boulder uphill, lives there. As does Tantalus, who stands in a pool of water with fruit all around him, yet can never quench his thirst or hunger. In the Elysian Fields, you can find all the great Heroes, including Pelops, the man who started the Olympic Games.
Another document states that the river Styx is guarded by Phlegyas, who passes the souls from one side to another of the river. In other versions, Phlegyas guards Phlegethon, another of the main rivers of Hades.
Powers of the River:
Legend has it that gods would take life binding oaths just by mentioning its name.
It is said that it bubbles with fire.
In yet another legend, a god gave his oath upon the river Styx and failed to keep his word. He was forced to drink from the river itself
According to some versions, Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone immortal.
Achilles may have been dipped in it in his childhood, acquiring invulnerability, with exception of his heel, which was held by his mother in order to submerge him. His exposed heel thus became known as Achilles heel, which interprets to a 'weak spot' in modern meaning.
The Goddess
Styx is also the name of a primordial goddess who represented that river, and was the only female river. She was a daughter of Okeanos and Tethys. With Pallas, she was the mother of Zelus, Nike, Cratos and Bia (and sometimes Eos).
Styx is also the name of a naiad nymph whose river was the most holy and sacred, and to swear on it was the most holy oath a God could make. Her name meant literally Hateful. She and the goddess are often held to be the same figure.
From another account:The daughter of OKEANOS (Ocean) and TETHYS, Styx was the eldest of Okeanos' three thousand daughters.
When ZEUS was at war with the Titans, he promised that any god who fought on his side would retain their power and position, and those without power or position under KRONOS (Cronos), would be rewarded justly. Styx, with her children, was the first to stand with Zeus. She later became known as The Oath River.
Although she is called The Oath River, Styx is actually an Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys. The Okeanids and the Rivers are of the same parents but the Okeanids are said to be a Race Apart or a Holy Company. Zeus gave the Okeanids, APOLLON and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping. Styx is called The Hateful because she is the body of water in the Underworld over which the souls of the dead are ferried by KHARON (Charon) and by which the Immortals swear their most solemn oaths.
Achilles
When Achilles was born, his loving mother Thetis wished to make him immortal, and for that purpose she dipped him in the waters of the river Styx. But others affirm that she, without the knowledge of the child's father, used to put the babe in the fire by night in order to destroy the mortal element which Achilles had inherited from Peleus, while anointing him with ambrosia during the day. But when Peleus saw the child writhing on the fire, he cried out, thus preventing Thetis from accomplishing her purpose.
Lath says
Lath has been to the lands of the dead and crossed the River Styx, but I can't say more.
I have been to the River Styx and beyond. I would not recommend it. Rescue_of_Scratch_from_the_Lands_of_the_Dead
Lath
