Hades, in Greek mythology, is the lower world in which the spirits of the dead dwelt. It received its name, Hades, from the god who ruled these regions. According to the most ancient writers, there was no separation of the just from the unjust in Hades. All spirits appeared to retain the outer form and to pursue instinctively the favorite occupation of their earthly life, but without interest. They had neither animation nor emotion, but were indeed only shades of their former selves. Later writers describe the souls as separated according to merits. The righteous dwell in Elysium and lead a painless, if not a positively happy existence, wandering in meadows where grow the pale flowers of the asphodel. The wicked endure various torments in Tartarus. In the Odyssey, the entrance to Hades is west of the river Oceanus; that is, at the end of the world where the sun drops into darkness. As western regions became better known. the entrance to Hades was located in various places, a writer selecting usually some gloomy cavern, perhaps in a volcanic region, as an appropriate place for shades to leave the light of day. The god Hades was represented as conducting them thither, although later writers assigned this task to Hermes. Perhaps the most interesting feature in the ancient account of Hades is the description of the five rivers, Styx, Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon, and Lethe. The first three of these names are ancient geographical appellations for real streams, each of which possessed some peculiarity of a nature to foster superstition or inspire awe. The waters of the Styx, in Arcadia, were bitter and fell from a lofty precipice amid wild and desolate scenery. The waterfall is still regarded with superstition. The people of the region believe the water to be noxious and call it the Black Water or the Terrible Water.
Some critics claim that the Arcadian jvaterfall was not called Styx in prehistoric times, but received its name from the infernal river, which, in turn, was named for an Egyptian river Styx. Cocytus was the ancient name of a small stream in Epirus, now called the Vuvos, the waters of which are ungrateful to the taste. It flows for some distance underground and joins the Gurla, which is the modern name of a river formerly called the Acheron. This river flows, for a part of its course, between mountains whose precipitous sides rise for 3,000 feet above the bed of the stream.
Thesprotia, the ancient name of that part of Epirus through which the Acheron flows, was believed to be the end of the world to the west. It is probable that some ancient writer, possibly Homer, boldly gave these names, already full of meaning to íhe weird fancy of a superstitious people, to the rivers by which he imagined Hades to be encircled. According to these accounts, the Styx flows seven times around the infernal regions. The Cocytus unites with it, and their waters then flow into the Acheron, which is represented as forming a lake. The Phlegethon or Pyriphlegethon is a river of name. It flows in a direction opposite to that of the Cocytus, but like it, joins the Acheron. Charon, the ferryman, in his crazy boat carries the shades across the Acheron, the Cocytus, and the Styx. The fifth river of Hades is the Lethe. Is is the river of forgetfulness. Other names given to Hades by the Greeks and Romans are Tartarus, Dis, Orcus, and Erebus.
