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13 Death

left: Charon receives the obolus (gr. obolos) price from a dead person (to ferry him across the Styx [Acheron]). To his right is Hermes psychopompos. Charon is not mentioned by Homer and the obolus was introduced later.

The Rivers of Hades

There are five rivers encircling Hades. The River Styx is perhaps the most famous; the other rivers are Phlegethon, Lethe, and Eridanos.

In Greek mythology, Styx (Στυξ) is a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, Hades. It circles Hades nine times. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron and Cocytus all converge at the center of Hades on a great marsh. The other important rivers of Hades are Lethe and Eridanos.

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.

The gods respected the Styx and swore binding oaths by it. Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through, resulting in her death. Helios similarly promised Phaëton whatever he desired, also resulting in his death. Gods that did not follow through on such an oath had to drink from the river, causing them to lose their voices for nine years.

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, a metaphor for a weak spot in modern meaning.

Styx was primarily a feature in the afterworld of Greek mythology, but has been described as a feature present in the hell of Christianity as well, notably in The Divine Comedy. The ferryman Charon is in modern times commonly believed to have transported the souls of the newly dead across this river into the underworld, though in the original Greek and Roman sources, as well as in Dante, it was the river Acheron that Charon plied.

Dante put Phlegyas over the Styx and made it the fifth circle of Hell, where the wrathful and sullen are punished by being drowned in the muddy waters for eternity.

The River Phlegethon ("lake of fire") was one of the five rivers of the underworld. It flowed with fire that burned but did not consume fuel. It was parallel to the Styx. It is said that the goddess Styx was in love with Phlegethon, but she was consumed by his flames and sent him to Hades. Eventually when Zeus accepted her river to flow through, they reunited.

Also, it is a river traveled upon by the Incarnation of War, named Mym, in the Piers Antony novel Wielding a Red Sword. When Mym is lured into Hell, he decides to incite rebellion against the forces of Satan and uses four of the five major waterways of Hell, among which are the River Lethe, the Archeron, the River Kyoktys (Cocytus), and the River Styx.

The River Acheron is located in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. Acheron translates as the "river of woe" and it was believed to be a branch of the underworld river Styx over which in ancient Greek mythology Charon ferried the newly dead souls across into Hades.

The lake called Acherousia and the river still called Acheron with the nearby ruins of the Necromanteion are found near Parga on the mainland opposite Corfu.

Another branch of Acheron was believed to surface at the Acherusian cape (now Eregli in Turkey) and was seen by the Argonauts according to Apollonius of Rhodes. Greeks who settled in Italy identified the Acherusian lake into which Acheron flowed with Lake Avernus.

Plato in his Phaedo identified Acheron as the second greatest river in the world, excelled only by Oceanus. He claimed that Acheron flowed in the opposite direction from Oceanus beneath the earth under desert places.

The god of the river, son of Oceanus and Tethys fathered Ascalaphus with Orphne or Gorgyra. The word is also occasionally used as a synecdoche for Hades itself. Virgil mentions Acheron with the other infernal rivers in his description of the underworld in Book VI of the Aeneid. In VII, line 312 he gives to Aeneas the famous saying, flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo: 'If I cannot deflect the will of Heaven, I shall move Hell.'

In Dante's Inferno, the Acheron river forms the border of Hell, in the Ante-Inferno. Following Greek mythology, Charon ferries souls across this river to Hell.

The River Cocytus, meaning "the river of wailing" (from the Greek κωκυτός, "lamentation"), is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. The recently deceased who could not pay Charon to ferry them across this river were condemned to wander its banks for one hundred years (according to most accounts). Cocytus flowed into the river Acheron, across which dwelled Hades, the mythological abode of the dead.

The River Lethe - on Classical Greek, Lethe (λήθη; LEE-thee) literally means forgetfulness" or "concealment". The Greek word for "truth" is a-lethe-ia (αλήθεια), meaning "un-forgetfulness" or un-concealment".

Drinking from the river Lethe ("forgetfulness" or "oblivion") aused complete forgetfulness. Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being eincarnated, so they would not remember their past lives.

Lethe was also a naiad, the daughter of Eris ('Strife' in Hesiod's Theogony). The naiad Lethe is probably a separate ersonification of forgetfulness rather than a reference to the river which bears her name.

Some private mystery religions taught the existence of another river, the Mnemosyne; those who drank from the Mnemosyne would remember everything and attain omniscience. Initiates were taught that they would receive a choice of rivers to drink from after death, and to drink from Mnemosyne instead of Lethe. These two rivers are attested in several verse inscriptions on gold plates dating to the 4th century BC and onward, found at Thurii in Southern Italy and elsewhere throughout the Greek world.

Styx, etching by Gustave Doré in 1861

In Greek mythology, Charon (in Greek, Χάρων — the bright — was the ferryman of Hades. (Etruscan equivalent: Charun) (Modern Greek Folklore: angel of death: Charos or Charontas)
He took the newly dead from one side of the river Acheron to the other if they had an obolus (coin) to pay for the ride. Corpses in some regions in ancient Greece were buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the fare. Some authors claim the price to be 2 coins, placed over each eye of the deceased. Those who could not had to wander the banks of the Acheron for one hundred years.

In various myths, the heroes Heracles, Orpheus, Aeneas, Dionysus and Psyche all journeyed to and from on the boat of Charon.

According to Virgil's Aeneid (book 6), the Cumaean Sibyl directs Aeneas to the golden bough necessary to cross the river while still alive and return to the world. Orpheus also made the trip to the underworld and returned alive.

Charon was the son of Erebus and Nyx.

He was depicted as a cranky, skinny old man or as a winged demon wielding a double hammer. Aristophanes, in The Frogs, had him spewing insults regarding people's girth. In modern times, he is commonly depicted as a living skeleton in a cowl, much like the Grim Reaper or Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

It is often said that he ferried souls across the river Styx. This is suggested by Virgil in his Aeneid (book 6, line 369). However, by most accounts, including Pausanias (x.28) and, later, Dante's Inferno (book 3, line 78), it was the swamps of the river Acheron.

Dante Alighieri incorporated Charon into his Divine Comedy. He is the same as his Greek counterpart, being paid an obolus to cross Acheron. He is the first named character Dante meets in the underworld, in the third Canto of Inferno.

Nyx was the goddess of the night, one of the ancient Protogenoi (first-born elemental gods).

In the ancient cosmogony of Hesiod she was born of Air (Khaos), and breeding with Darkness (Erebos) produced Light (Aither) and Day (Hemera), first components of the primeval universe. Alone, she spawned a brood of dark spirits, including the three Fates, Sleep (Hypnos), Death (Thanatos), Strife and Pain.

Nyx was a primeval goddess usually represented as simply the substance of night: a veil of dark veil of mist drawn forth from the underworld which blotted out the light of Aither (shining upper atmosphere). She was only occasionally personified as a winged goddess or charioteer. Her other half was Hemera (Day), the scatterer of night, a goddess barely distinguishable from Eos (the Dawn).

"At the beginning there was only Khaos (Air), Nyx (Night), dark Erebos (Darkness), and deep Tartaros (Hell's Pit). Ge (Earth), Aer (Air) [probably meaning Aither the upper air] and Ouranos (Heaven) had no existence. Firstly, black-winged Nyx (Night) laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebos (Darkness), and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros [Himeros the elder eros] with his glittering golden wings." - Aristophanes, The Birds 685

Eros - the Greek god of love and sexual desire; also worshiped as a fertility god, believed to be a contemporary of the primeval Chaos, which makes Eros one of the oldest gods.

The Romans regarded him as a symbol of life after death and decorated sarcophagi with his image.

Styx - Styx is the Greek goddess of the river of death in the underworld. She was usually said to be the daughter of Erebus and Nyx. She was married to Pallas by whom she had Zelus, Nike, Cratos and Bia.

The gods swore their oaths by this river, and violating such an oath would result in the loss of their immortality.

This may also explain how the rivers Acheron and Styx became confused. Charon actually ferried the Dead across the River Acheron, but now it is the popular belief that it was the River Styx.

In Greek mythology, Thanatos (θάνατος, "death") was the personification of death (Roman equivalent: Mors), and a minor figure in Greek mythology. Thanatos was a son of Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness) and twin of Hypnos (Sleep). In early mythological accounts, Thanatos was perceived as a powerful figure armed with a sword, with a shaggy beard and a fierce face. His coming was marked by pain and grief. In later eras, as the transition from life to death in Elysium became a more attractive option, Thanatos came to be seen as a beautiful young man. Many Roman sarcophagi depict him as a winged boy, much like Cupid.

According to mythology, Thanatos could occasionally be outwitted, a feat that Sisyphus twice accomplished. When it came time for Sisyphus to die, he succeeded in chaining Thanatos up with his own shackles, thereby prohibiting the death of any mortal. Eventually Ares released Thanatos and handed Sisyphus over to him, though Sisyphus would trick Thanatos again by convincing Zeus to allow him to return to his wife.

Thanatos was portrayed as a youngster with a inversed torch in one hand and a wreath or butterfly (the ancient greek word for butterfly is psyche which in modern greek means soul) in the other. He appears, with Hypnos, several times on Attican funerary vases, so-called lekythen. On a sculpted column in the Temple of Artemis at Ephese (4th century BCE) Thanatos is shown with two large wings and a sword attached to his girdle.

In Roman mythology, Mors [the Latin word for death] is the personification of death and equivalent to the Greek Thanatos. He the son of the goddess of night, Nox, and is the brother of the personification of sleep, Somnus. Mors should not be confused with Mars, the god of war, Pluto, the god of the underworld, or Orcus, god of death and punisher of perjurers.

In one story, Herculeus (in Greek, Heracles) fought Mors in order to save his friend's wife. In other stories, Mors is shown as a servant to Pluto, ending the life of a person after the thread of their life has been cut by the Fates, and Mercury, the messenger to the gods, escorts the dead persons soul, or shade, down to the underworld's gate.

When it felt its death approaching (every 500 or 1461 years), it would build a nest of aromatic wood and set it on fire, and was consumed by the flames. When it was burned, a new phoenix sprang forth from the pyre. It then embalmed the ashes of its predecessor in an egg of myrrh and flew with it to Heliopolis ("city of the sun"). There it would deposit the egg on the altar of the sun god.

In Egypt is was usually depicted as a heron, but in the classic literature as a peacock, or an eagle. The phoenix symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. In that aspect it was often placed on sarcophagi. It is associated with the Egyptian Benu, the Garuda of the Hindus, and the Chinese Feng-huang.

Sphinx - In ancient Egypt, the Sphinx is a male statue of a lion with the head of a human, sometimes with wings. Most sphinxes however represent a king in his appearance as the sun god. The name "sphinx" was applied to the portraits of kings by the Greeks who visited Egypt in later centuries, because of the similarity of these statues to their Sphinx.

The Greek Sphinx was a demon of death and destruction and bad luck. She was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. It was a female creature, sometimes depicted as a winged lion with a feminine head, and sometimes as a female with the breast, paws and claws of a lion, a snake tail and bird wings. She sat on a high rock near Thebes and posed a riddle to all who passed. The riddle was: "What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" Those who could not solve the riddle were strangled by her. Finally Oedipus came along and he was the only who could answer that it was "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff." The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.

The name 'sphinx' is derived from the Greek sphingo, which means "to strangle". In ancient Assyrian myths, the sphinx usually appears as a guardian of temple entrances.

Even though Thanatos was the literal god of death, Hades became better known as the God of Darkness and the Realm of the Dead, thus the ruler of the Underworld (also known as Hades). The worship of Hades/Pluto was widespread among the Greeks and Romans. The symbols associated with him are the two-pronged pitchfork (devil's pitchfork?) and sometimes a horn of plenty. The latter symbol can be attributed to the fact that some ancient writers confused Pluto with the God of Riches, Plutus (sometimes pictured as a boy with a cornucopia). He rules cypress, the box, the plants narcissus and adiantum; goats and oxen were sacrificed to him. He became ruler of the Underworld when he and his siblings overthrew Chronos (their father) and divided up the realm. Jupiter (Zeus) got the heavens, Neptune (Poseidon) got the seas, and Pluto got the the outer or infernal regions, later refered to by his name, Hades. Pluto simply was the ruler of this place, stern but fair, and not the fearful punisher of later years. People became frightened of the mere mention of his name and refered to "him" as Ploutos, which means 'wealth' - the logic being, that all precious minerals came from beneath the earth, which was the domain of Hades. It is believed, that from this name/word, comes the Roman name for Hades - Pluto.

According to Homeric belief, when a person died, the vital breath or psyche left the body to enter the palace of Hades, which was merely a residence for the Dead. This vital breath is much like our definition of 'soul' except that they believed it was perceptible. The concept of afterlife punishments and rewards just didn't exist. By Classical times (479-323BC) though, various secret cults began the idea of an 'happy' afterlife, but then had to add the punishment aspect for fairness. Hades, the Realm of the Dead, was either underground or in the far West of the world as conceived by the Greeks (the East representing Life and Light). They really had no universal belief as to the afterlife; the Elysian Fields seemed to be reserved for the heroes, while the common folk could expect more drudgery and boredom in the Fields of Asphodel. Since after death they would drink from the River Lethe (River of Forgetfulness), they would forget their human lives and consequently have nothing to do or say in that next world - yet is was not depicted fearfully. (see Hades Images images of 350BC; compare to third image of 1590CE) The Dead were guided to the River Styx by Hermes (Mercury), who handed them over to the ferryman, Charon (Cheiron). If bribed with a coin, he would transport them across the river. If they had no coin, they were doomed to wander the riverbank for eternity. Thus it was Greek custom to bury their dead with a coin on the lips or in the mouth.

Guarding the entrance to Hades, was the three-headed dog with a dragon's tail - or snakes growing out of its back, Cerberus (Kerberos). He will let you in - but not out. The dead would appear before a panel of three judges, Rhadamanthus, Minos I, and Aeacus, who then pass judgment.

The Styx was one of the rivers that bounded Hades; there were actually five: Styx (River of Oath by which the gods swear), Lethe (River of Forgetfulness), Acheron (River of Woe), Phlegethon (River of Fire), and Cocytus (River of Lament). By the time Dante wrote his Inferno (1307-1321), he placed four of the rivers into his depiction of hell.

left: Heracles and Cerberus

Cerberus or Kerberos (Greek Κέρβερος, Kerberos, "demon of the pit") was one of the monsters spawned by Echidna and Typhaon. According to Hesiod, Cerberus is a dog with fifty heads, which belonged to Hades. Later authors, such as Apollodorus, portray Cerberus as having three heads with a snake for a tail and serpentine mane.

Cerberus guarded the gate to Hades and ensured that spirits of the dead could enter, but none could exit (additionally no living person was to come into Hades). His sister was Chimera and his brother was Hydra. He is the offspring of Echidna and Typhon.

Only a few mortals ever managed to get by this fearsome dog. Heracles' twelfth and final labor was to bring Cerberus up from the land of the dead. Hades allowed him to do so, provided that Heracles use no weapons. Heracles agreed, and succeeded in wrestling Cerberus into submission and bringing him to Eurystheus, then understandably Heracles brought Cerberus back down again.