STYX

in Greek mythology, one of the rivers of the underworld. The word styx literally means hateful and expresses loathing of death. In the epics of Homer, the gods swore by the water of the Styx as their most binding oath; if a god perjured himself, he was rendered insensible for a year and then banished from the divine society for nine years. Hesiod personified Styx as the daughter of Oceanus and the mother of Emulation, Victory, Power, and Might. Later the Styx was identified with the stream now called Mavronri (Greek: Black Water) near Nonacris in the Aroania Mountains (near modern Slos) in Arcadia. The ancients believed that its water was poisonous and would dissolve any vessel containing it except one made of the hoof of a horse or an ass. There is a legend that Alexander the Great was poisoned by Styx water.