Achelous
A river of Epirus, which rises in Mt.
Pindos and, flowing between Acarnania and Aetolia, empties into the Gulf of Corinth.
Achelous is also the name of the deity of the river Achelous, who is said to have contended with Hercules for the hand of Deianira, but, although he changed himself into the form of a bull, he was defeated by the hero in the contest and deprived of one of his horns, which, however, he recovered by giving up the horn of Amalthea. The Achelous was reverenced by the ancients as a stream of great antiquity and was regarded as the general representative of all fresh waters, so that we find in Vergil the expression Acheloia pocula, meaning water in general.