Styx, etching by Gustave Doré, representing Dante's Divine Comedy journey, 1861.
When you have about three thousand daughters you are bound to run out of names for the younger ones. But to call the eldest Styx, which means Hateful, is inexplicable to say the least. Okeanos (Oceanus) and Tethys probably had a lot of explaining to do; however, Styx rose to great heights due to the favour she found with Zeus. In the great Titanomachia or the War of the Titans, Styx supported Zeus along with her four children Zelos the god of Zeal, Kratos of Strength, Bia of Force, and Nike of Victory.
Oceanus, at right, with scaly tail, in the Gigantomachy of the Pergamon Altar.
Styx exhibited her loyalty and strength by imprisoning the monstrous Gaia, a half-bull half-serpent creature, in a dark grove rendering it powerless. This was no ordinary monster for he who succeeded in slaying this monster and burning its entrails was destined to humble the immortal gods. So by capturing it, Styx was doing a huge favour to all concerned. Zeus was quick to reward her efforts by inviting the whole family to live in his abode. He granted her a river in her name that flowed nine times around the Underworld separating it from the land of the living, and also instituted in her name the binding Oath of the gods.
Any god, including Zeus himself, who swore the Stygian Oath, had to drink of her freezing cold waters to make it binding. Anyone not following through would face dire consequences that threatened their immortal status. They would lose their spirit as well as their voice and lie breathless for a year. Even worse, they would be denied ambrosia and nectar, which probably left them in a condition similar to Barney when denied his beer in The Simpsons.
The River Styx
When Zeus likes someone he shows it. Not content with bestowing on Styx the power of the Oath which in fact bound him as well, he went on to real estate and made her sole proprietor of the largest of the underworld rivers over which the dead souls had to be ferried.
Now the ferryman Charon was a cranky old coot who sometimes didn’t take the souls all the way across. According to the burial customs of the day, a coin had to be placed in the mouth of the dead before sending them on their way. Midway Charon would pry open the stiff mouths, and if his efforts failed to reveal a glittering coin, he just decided it wasn’t worth it. These poor unfortunate souls who probably had mean tight-fisted relatives, or were not really well liked when alive, would therefore wander around in the Stygian darkness for eternity.
All that power didn’t go to her head and Styx was even generous enough to share some of it. If dipped in her cold murky depths she would bestow powers of invulnerable strength on the dipped. Achilles’ mother knew they were living in dangerous times and this Stygian blessing would someday come in handy. So she dipped her son holding him up by his ankle, in the firm belief that she had now done all that was necessary. But it was this weak ankle that finally got him killed. You see, Styx had failed to explain the small print.
