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| Crosing
the River Styx
woodcut 33 x 27
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The Styx is a river of
the Underworld in Hesiod's Theogony. Styx was the oldest of the children
of Oceanus and Tethys, but the writer Hyginus also mentioned her as one of the
children of Nyx and Erebus.
Styx was the name of a spring in Arcadia
which emerged from a rock above ground, then disappeared underground again. Its
water was poisonous for humans and cattle and could break iron, metal, and pottery,
though a horse's hoof was unharmed by it. Its water was said to possess magical
properties : this was the river that Hera dipped Achilles into to make him invulnerable.The
water of the Styx was used by the gods for pronouncing oaths: Zues would send
Iris to draw an ewer of water from it to bring back to Olympus so that the water
witnessed each oath. If the god perjured himself, he became unable to breathe
for a year, and could drink neither ambrosia or nectar.
The Styx was
a branch of Oceanus, and in Virgil's description, it meanders around Hades nine
times, completely surrounding it. | |
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