Rivers of Hades

Hades had five rivers, on which the land covered. Each of these rivers served a part of making up the underworld.

• Acheron - River of Woe
  • Phlegethon and Cocytus flowed into Acheron.
  Cocytus - River of Lament
• Lethe - River of Forgetfulness
  • Lethe was the river that was near Elysium, or the Elysian Fields. This river was drunk by the heroes who passed away, in order to forget their living life. This would make them content with being dead, because they then had no knowledge of their former life.
• Phlegethon - River of Fire
  • Phlegethon was a river that made up Tartarus, where criminals went when they died. This river is probably one of the sources of the Christian Hell.
• Styx - River of Hate, by which the gods swore by.
  • Styx is probably the most famous of the rivers. It was the river that the dead had pass in order to move into Hades's realm. The waters were poisonous even to the dead souls, so Charon kept a ferry that took souls into the underworld. One had to pay him to go on, or else the lost soul would have to stand outside of Hades for eternity.