Acheron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article concerns the Greek river. For other uses, see Acheron (disambiguation).
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The 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.
[edit] Acheron in literature
- Acheron Hades is the villain in The Eyre Affair (2001) by Jasper Fforde, notable here only for its association with the names Hades and Styx (the villain's brother)
- Acheron Parthenopaeus is very popular character in the Dark-Hunter Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Rumors suggest that the characters own book will be released within the year.
- Acheron is the name of the French frigate Cpt. Jack Aubrey and crew of the 'Suprise' hunt in the film 'Master and Commander' directed by Peter Weir.
[edit] Acheron in Movies
- Name given by the terraformers to the moon LV-426 from James Cameron's Aliens
[edit] Acheron in Pop Culture
- Darth Acheron is one of five finalists in the the Star Wars "Darth Who" contest held in 2006/2007 to determine the character Jacen Solo's Sith Title.
