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Styx

In Greek mythology, Styx was one of the main rivers that ran through the underworld. According to legend, the boatman Charon ferried the spirits of the dead across the Styx from earth to the land of the dead.

The river was named for the eldest daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, who lived in a palace near the edge of the underworld. She married the Titan Pallas and had four children: Might, Force, Zeal, and Victory. Styx and her children helped Zeus* and the Olympian gods win their battle against the Titans for mastery of the universe. As a reward, Zeus ordered that an oath sworn by the waters of the Styx could never be broken, even by a god. Anyone who broke such an oath would enter a comalike state for a year and would be banished from the company of the other gods for nine more years.

The ancient Greeks identified the river Styx with a mountain stream in the land of Arcadia. They believed that its waters were poisonous and could only be held in a cup made from the hoof of a horse or a donkey.