View source for Acheron

{{short description|River in Greece}}
{{About|the river in Greece}}
{{Infobox river
| name              = Acheron
| image             = Acheron river 2.jpg
| image_caption     = Acheron river near the village of [[Glyki]]
| source1_location  = [[Ioannina (regional unit)|Ioannina regional unit]], [[Epirus]]
| mouth_location    = [[Ionian Sea]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|39|14|10|N|20|28|34|E|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = [[Greece]]
|length_km=52
| source1_elevation = 
| discharge1_avg    = 
|basin_size_km2=705
}}

The '''Acheron''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|k|ə|r|ə|n}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|k|ə|r|ɒ|n}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀχέρων}} ''Acheron'' or Ἀχερούσιος ''Acherousios''; {{langx|el|Αχέροντας}} ''Acherontas'') is a [[river]] in the [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]] region of northwest [[Greece]].<ref name=yreka/>

In [[Greek mythology]], Acheron is often depicted as the entrance to the [[Greek Underworld]] where souls must be ferried across by [[Charon]] (although some later sources, such as [[Roman people|Roman]] poets, assign this role to the river [[Styx]]).

==Description==
It is {{convert|52|km|mi|abbr=on}} long, and has a drainage area of {{convert|705|km2|abbr=on}}.<ref name=yreka>{{cite web|url=http://www.ypeka.gr/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=T4DDG1hqQMY%3D&tabid=252&language=el-GR |title=Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215192049/http://www.ypeka.gr/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=T4DDG1hqQMY%3D&tabid=252&language=el-GR|archive-date=15 February 2020|language=el|publisher=Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change|page=54}}</ref> The river's source is located near the village [[Selloi, Ioannina|Zotiko]], in the southwestern part of the [[Ioannina (regional unit)|Ioannina regional unit]]. The Acheron flows into the [[Ionian Sea]] in [[Ammoudia, Preveza|Ammoudia]], near [[Parga]].

==Mythology==
Ancient [[Greek mythology]] saw the Acheron, sometimes known as the "river of woe", as one of the five rivers of the [[Greek underworld]].<ref>
For example:
{{cite book
 |last1                = March
 |first1               = Jennifer
 |title                = The Penguin Book of Classical Myths
 |date = 5 June 2008
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=PgzMJAQr_skC
 |edition              = reprint
 |publisher            = Penguin UK
 |publication-date     = 2008
 |isbn                 = 9780141920597
 |access-date          = 15 March 2022
 |quote                = His [Hades'] subterranean realm was a chill and sunless place, watered by five rivers: the Styx (Hateful River), the Acheron (River of Woe), the Kokytos (River of Lamentation), the Phlegethon (River of Flame), and the Lethe (River of Forgetfulness).
}} 
</ref> The name is of uncertain etymology.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 182.</ref>

Most classical accounts, including [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (10.28) and later [[Dante]]'s ''Inferno'' (3.78), portray the Acheron as the entrance to the Underworld and depict [[Charon]] ferrying the souls of the dead across it. Ancient Greek literary sources such as [[Pindar]], [[Aeschylus]], [[Euripides]], [[Plato]], and [[Callimachus]] also place Charon on the Acheron. Roman poets, including [[Propertius]], [[Ovid]], and [[Statius]], name the river as the [[Styx]], perhaps following the geography of [[Virgil]]'s underworld in the ''[[Aeneid]],'' where Charon is associated with both rivers.

The [[Homer]]ic poems describe the Acheron as a river of [[Hades]], into which [[Cocytus]] and [[Phlegethon]] both flowed.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[The Odyssey]]'' x. 513</ref><ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' i. 17, § 5</ref>

The Roman poet [[Virgil]] called the Acheron the principal river of [[Tartarus]], from which the [[Styx (mythology)|Styx]] and the Cocytus both sprang.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' vi. 297</ref>  The newly dead would be ferried across the Acheron by [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] in order to enter the Underworld.<ref>Virgil, ''Aeneid'' 6. 323</ref>  
[[File:The Vestibule of Hell and Souls Mustering to Cross the Acheron Blake.jpg |thumb| [[William Blake]]'s depiction of "The Vestibule of Hell and the Souls Mustering to Cross the Acheron" in his ''Illustrations to Dante's "Divine Comedy"'', object 5, {{circa}} 1824–27. The original for the work is held by the [[National Gallery of Victoria]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=but812.1.wc.05 | publisher = [[William Blake Archive]]| title = Illustrations to Dante's "Divine Comedy", object 5 (Butlin 812.5) "The Vestibule of Hell and the Souls Mustering to Cross the Acheron"|editor= Morris Eaves |editor2= Robert N. Essick |editor3= Joseph Viscomi| access-date = January 25, 2015}}</ref>]]

The [[Suda]] describes the river as "a place of healing, not a place of punishment, cleansing and purging the sins of humans".<ref>[http://www.stoa.org/sol/ Suda On Line]</ref>

According to later traditions, Acheron had been a son of [[Helios]] and either [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] or [[Demeter]], who was turned into the Underworld river bearing his name after he refreshed the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] with drink during their contest with [[Zeus]].<ref>[[Natalis Comes]]. ''Mythologiae, 3.1''</ref> By this myth, Acheron is also the father of [[Ascalaphus (son of Acheron)|Ascalaphus]] by either [[Orphne]]<ref>[[Ovid]], ''Metamorphoses'' 5. 539</ref> or [[Gorgyra]].<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' 1. 33</ref>

The river called Acheron with the nearby ruins of the [[Necromanteion]] (oratory of the dead) is found near [[Parga]] on the mainland of Greece opposite [[Corfu]]. Another branch of Acheron was believed to surface at the Acherusian cape (now [[Karadeniz Ereğli]] 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]].
[[File:Gustave Dore, The Divine comedy, Inferno, plate 9, Charon, The Ferryman of Hell.jpg|thumb|Following Greek mythology, [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] ferries souls across the Acheron to Hell. Those who were neutral in life sit on the banks.]]

He claimed that Acheron flowed in the opposite direction from [[Oceanus]] beneath the earth under desert places. 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 Book VII, line 312<ref>Line 312 in the conventional lineation, see J.W. Mackail (Editor and Translator), ''The AEneid'' (Clarendon press, Oxford: 1930), p. 271.</ref> he gives to Juno the famous saying, ''flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo'': 'If I cannot bend the will of Heaven, I shall move Hell.' The same words were used by [[Sigmund Freud]] as the dedicatory motto for his seminal book ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', figuring Acheron as psychological underworld beneath the conscious mind.

The Acheron was sometimes referred to as a lake or swamp in Greek literature, as in [[Aristophanes]]' ''[[The Frogs]]'' and [[Euripides]]' ''[[Alcestis]]''.

[[File:Gustave Doré - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 10 (Canto III - Charon herds the sinners onto his boat).jpg|thumb|In the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', Charon forces reluctant sinners onto his boat by beating them with his oar. Illustration by [[Gustave Doré]].]]

In [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', the Acheron river forms the border of [[Hell]]. Following Greek mythology, [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] ferries souls across this river to Hell. Those who were neutral in life sit on the banks.

== In culture ==
* In [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s [[Inferno (Dante)|''Inferno'']], [[Charon]] ferries newly deceased sinners across Acheron.
* In [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s play, ''[[The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus]],'' Acheron is mentioned in Act I, scene iii, wherein [[Faust|Doctor Faustus]] conjures [[Mephistophiles]]: ''Sint mihi dei Acherontis propitii,'' or "May the gods of Hell (Acheron) be propitious unto me."
* In [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] play, ''[[Macbeth]]'', Acheron is referenced as a euphemism for the gates of hell by [[Hecate]] in Act III, scene v: "Get you gone, and at the pit of Acheron meet me i' th' morning.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shakespeare |first1=William |title=Macbeth |url=https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1533/pg1533-images.html#sceneIII_20.5 |website=Open Source Shakespeare}}</ref>

==Namesake==
[[Acheron Lake]] in [[Antarctica]] is named after the mythical river.

Several ships have been named ''[[HMS Acheron]]''.<ref>{{Cite Colledge2006}}</ref>

There is a stream named the ''Dry Acheron'' in Canterbury, New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/canterbury/places/korowai-torlesse-tussocklands-park/things-to-do/tracks/dry-acheron-track/|title = Dry Acheron Track}}</ref>

The [[Eocene]] turtle genus ''[[Acherontemys]]'' of the [[Roslyn Formation]] in North America was named in reference to the Acheron mythos.<ref name="Hay1899">{{cite journal |last1=Hay |first1=O.P. |year=1899 |title=Descriptions of two new species of tortoises from the Tertiary of the United States |journal=Proceedings of the United States National Museum |volume=22 |issue=1181 |pages=21–24|doi=10.5479/si.00963801.22-1181.21 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/70367 }}</ref>

In ''[[Honkai: Star Rail|Honkai Star Rail]]'', a character within the story nicknames herself after the river Acheron.

Former hardest [[Geometry Dash]] level "Acheron" is named after and shares the name with the river

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Acheron 2.jpg|Acheron river
File:Acheron 3.jpg|Acheron river (another view)
File:Baileybridge over the Acheron river in Gliki - Greece.jpg|[[Truss]] bridge over the Acheron river
file:Acherontemys heckmani holotype USNM V4213 img3.jpg|''[[Acherontemys heckmani]]'' fossil carapace
File:66 River of The Dead.a.jpg|alt=River of the Dead - a painting by Mikhail Sol|[[River of the Dead - a painting by Mikhail Sol]]
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wiktionary|Acheron}}
* [http://www.lacheron.com L'Achéron, Viol Consort] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729045754/http://www.lacheron.com/ |date=2016-07-29 }}

{{Divine Comedy navbox}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}}
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[[Category:Greek underworld]]
[[Category:River gods in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Rivers of Greece]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Residents of the Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Geography of ancient Epirus]]
[[Category:Epirotic mythology]]
[[Category:Landforms of Ioannina (regional unit)]]
[[Category:Rivers of Epirus (region)]]
[[Category:Children of Demeter]]
[[Category:Landforms of Preveza (regional unit)]]
[[Category:Drainage basins of the Ionian Sea]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into bodies of water in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Gaia]]
[[Category:Children of Helios]]
[[Category:Divine Comedy]]