Styx

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

stiks, in Greek mythology, one of the five rivers of Hades. It flowed seven times around the infernal regions. According to Hesiod, Styx was the name of a nymph, daughter of Oceanus and Tethyz. When Zeus called upon the gods for aid in his war with the Titans, Styx was the first to respond, bringing her children, Power, Force, Emulation, and Victory, with her. As a reward her children were allowed to remain with Zeus in Olympus, and Styx was given a home in a grotto supported by silver columns. This grotto was situated near the entrance to the infernal regions, and the nymph presided over the infernal river which bore her name. Moreover, Zeus decreed that the gods should swear their most solemn oaths by the name of Styx. When this oath was taken, Iris brought water from the river, which was poured out while the oath was uttered. If such an oath was broken, the god who thus foreswore himself was deprived of speech and breath for a year, and debarred from the council of the gods for nine years. According to one account, Thetis, the mother of Achilles, dipped her infant son in the river of Styx, making every part of him invulnerable excepting the heel by which she held him. The word Styx means hate. Milton describes the river as "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate." John Kendrick Bangs has written a bright skit, called The Houseboat on the Styx, in which the conversation of Noah, Shakespeare, and other celebrities is described most facetiously.