Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Sacred flows
Their Lord will guide them by their faith; there shall flow from beneath them rivers
in gardens of bliss.
The Koran 10.9
Throughout history, the flow of rivers has nurtured life and spread fertility to countless
societies while also, on occasion, bringing death and devastation. This dual function, as a
force of nature that sustains life but also takes it away, has generated cultural echoes in
groups all over the world. The powerful hold that rivers have over humankind has become
embedded in innumerable traditions, myths, and sacred rituals through the ages.
Mythical rivers
In Greek mythology, the land of the dead, or underworld, was surrounded by five rivers.
These were the Acheron (the river of woe), Cocytus (the river of lamentation), Phlegethon
(the river of fire), Lethe (the river of forgetfulness), and Styx (the river of hate). When some-
body died, the spirit of the dead was ferried across the water (in some cases the Acheron, in
others the Styx) by the boatman, on payment of a fee. Each new arrival in the underworld
was judged, determined to be good or bad, and transferred either to a place of torment or to
the Elysian Fields that can be equated with Paradise. Residents of the Elysian Fields had the
possibility of rebirth once their previous life had been forgotten, a feat achieved by drinking
the waters of the River Lethe.
Miraculous powers were associated with the River Styx. Its waters were used by the gods
to seal unbreakable oaths, and the Greek hero Achilles was immersed in the river as a child,
making him entirely invulnerable except for the spot on his heel where his mother held him
