Editing Styx

{{Short description|Goddess and river in Greek mythology}}
{{About|the goddess and river in Greek mythology|the rock band|Styx (band)|other uses|Styx (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Styx River|the Australian river|Styx River (Tasmania)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Styx
| god_of = Goddess and underworld river
| abode = [[Greek Underworld|Underworld]]
| member_of = The Oceanids
| parents = [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]
| consort = [[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]]
| children = [[Bia (mythology)|Bia]], [[Kratos (mythology)|Kratos]], [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]], [[Zelus]]
| image = Eleutherna relief achilles cropped.jpg
| siblings = [[Oceanids]], the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river gods]]
| caption = ''Thetis dips Achilles in Styx'', 4th century relief, [[Museum of Ancient Eleutherna]]
}}
{{Greek underworld}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Styx''' ({{IPAc-en|'|s|t|ɪ|k|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Styx.wav}}; {{langx|grc|Στύξ}} {{IPA|grc|stýks|}}; lit. "Shuddering"<ref>West 2003, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_2_demeter/2003/pb_LCL496.53.xml p. 53 n. 11].</ref>), also called the '''River Styx''', is a goddess and one of the [[Greek underworld#Rivers|rivers of the Greek Underworld]]. Her parents were the [[Titans]] [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], and she was the wife of the Titan [[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]] and the mother of [[Zelus]], [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]], [[Kratos (mythology)|Kratos]], and [[Bia (mythology)|Bia]]. She sided with [[Zeus]] in his war against the Titans, and because of this, to honor her, Zeus decreed that the solemn oaths of the gods be sworn by the water of Styx.<ref>Jost, [https://oxfordre-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-6108?rskey=8uhQ9j&result=1 s.v. Styx]; Antoni, [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/styx-e1124740?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.brill-s-new-pauly&s.q=Styx s.v. Styx]; Grimal, s.v. Styx; Tripp, s.v. Styx; Parada, s.v. Styx; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D28%3Aentry%3Dstyx-bio-1 s.v. Styx].</ref>

==Family==
According to the usual account, Styx was the eldest of the [[Oceanids]], the many daughters of the Titan [[Oceanus]], the great world-encircling river, and his sister-wife, the Titaness [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>Grimal, s.v. Styx; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:337-370 361&ndash;362], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:767-806 775&ndash;776]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.2 1.2.2]. Compare with [[Epimenides]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA96 fr. 7 Fowler] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' F6B = ''[[Vorsokr.]]'' 3B9], and ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to Demeter'' (which both have Styx as the daughter of Oceanus without mentioning Tethys); [[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Zeus'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/40/mode/2up 33&ndash;36].</ref> However, according to the Roman mythographer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], she was the daughter of Nox ("Night", the Roman equivalent of [[Nyx]]) and [[Erebus]] (Darkness).<ref>Jost, [https://oxfordre-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-6108?rskey=8uhQ9j&result=1 s.v. Styx]; Grimal, s.v. Styx; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 1.2&ndash;1.5].</ref>

She married the Titan [[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]] and by him gave birth to the personifications  [[Zelus]] (Glory, Emulation), [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] (Victory), [[Kratos (mythology)|Kratos]] (Strength, Dominion), and [[Bia (mythology)|Bia]] (Force, Violence).<ref>Gantz, pp. 25&ndash;26; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 383&ndash;385]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.4 1.2.4]; Compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#p.9 1.1&ndash;17.1&ndash;2], which gives the offspring of Pallas and Styx as Scylla, Force, Envy, Power, Victory, Fountains, and Lakes.</ref> The geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] tells us that, according to  [[Epimenides|Epimenides of Crete]], Styx was the mother of the monster [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]], by an otherwise unknown Perias.<ref>Gantz, p. 22; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 p. 9]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.18.2 8.18.2] [= [[Epimenides]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA96 fr. 7 Fowler]]  [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' F6B = ''[[Vorsokr.]]'' 3B9]. Other authors give other parents for Echidna, see [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.25.xml 270&ndash;300] (where, according to [[Apostolos Athanassakis|Athanassakis]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=FS5ZoYYhd2EC&pg=PA44 p. 44], her parents are "likely" [[Ceto]] and [[Phorcys]]); [[Pseudo-Apollodorus|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%202.1.2&lang=original 2.1.2] (Echidna is the daughter of [[Tartarus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]).</ref>

Although usually Demeter was the mother, by Zeus, of the underworld-goddess Persephone, according to the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], it was Styx.<ref>Gantz, p. 64; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1 1.3.1]. For Demeter as mother, see, for example, [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 912&ndash;913]; ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to Demeter'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_2_demeter/2003/pb_LCL496.33.xml 1&ndash;5]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.37.9 8.37.9]. Compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#p.19 26.1], which has [[Proserpina]] as the daughter of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jove]] and [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]].</ref> However, when Apollodorus relates the famous story of the abduction of Persephone, and the search for her by her angry and distraught mother, as usual, it is Demeter who conducts the search.<ref>Gantz, pp. 64&ndash;67; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.5 1.5].</ref>

==Mythology==
===Oath of the gods===
Styx was the oath of the gods. [[Homer]] calls Styx the "dread river of oath".<ref>''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.734-2.779 2.755].</ref> In both the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', it is said that swearing by the water of Styx, is "the greatest and most dread oath for the blessed gods". Homer has [[Hera]] (in the ''Iliad'') say this when she swears by Styx to Zeus, that she is not to blame for Poseidon's intervention on the side of the Greeks in the [[Trojan War]], and he has [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]] (in the ''Odyssey'') use the same words when she swears by Styx to [[Odysseus]] that she will cease to plot against him. Also [[Hypnos]] (in the ''Iliad'') makes Hera swear to him "by the inviolable water of Styx".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:15.34-15.77 15.36&ndash;42] (Hera to Zeus), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.271&ndash;278] (Hera to Hypnos), ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:5.145-5.191 5.184&ndash;187] (Calypso to Odysseus). Gantz, p. 29, calls such oaths in Homer "not overly common", noting that for Zeus, at least, a nod of his head was sufficient, with Zeus once calling such a nod the most sure witness, see ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.493-1.530 1.524&ndash;527].</ref>

Examples of oaths sworn by Styx also occur in the ''[[Homeric Hymns]]''.<ref>Gantz, p. 29.</ref> Demeter asks the "implacable" water of Styx to be her witness, as she swears to [[Metaneira]],<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to Demeter'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_2_demeter/2003/pb_LCL496.53.xml 259].</ref> [[Leto]] swears to the personified [[Delos]] by the water of Styx, calling it the "most powerful and dreadful oath that the blessed gods can swear",<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 3 ''to Apollo'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_3_apollo/2003/pb_LCL496.77.xml 83&ndash;86].</ref> while [[Apollo]] asks [[Hermes]] to swear to him on the "dread" water of Styx.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 4 ''to Hermes'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_4_hermes/2003/pb_LCL496.155.xml 518&ndash;520].</ref>

[[Hesiod]], in the ''[[Theogony]]'', gives an account of how this role for Styx came about. He says that, during the [[Titanomachy]], the great war of Zeus and his fellow Olympians against Cronus and his fellow Titans, Zeus summoned "all the deathless gods to great Olympus" and promised, to whosoever would join him against the Titans, that he would preserve whatever rights and offices each had, or if they had none under Cronus, they would be given both under his rule. Styx, upon the advice of her father Oceanus, was the first to side with Zeus, bringing her children by Pallas along with her. And so in return Zeus appointed Styx to be "the great oath of the gods, and her children to live with him always."<ref>Gantz, pp. 29, 45; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 389&ndash;402]. Compare with [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.5 1.2.5]. West 1966, p. 272, points out that this story of Styx being the first to come to Zeus' aid, by bringing her children, including Nike (Victory) and Kratos (Strength), to Zeus' side, is an aetiological myth explaining both why the gods swear by Styx, and why Victory and Strength reside for evermore with Zeus. West suggests that this myth can be imagined as having come about thought the following though process. "Why do the gods swear by Styx? Because Zeus so ordained. Why did he do so? In reward for some service performed for him by Styx. In what connexion? Most likely in connexion with the Titanomachy, for that was when Zeus most needed help. Then did she fight for him? Hardly in person: but she might have sent her children to fight for him. Then who can they have been, that he needed there help? Why, Victory and Strength; those were the gods he needed."</ref>

According to Hesiod, Styx lived at the entrance to Hades, in a cave "propped up to heaven all round with silver pillars".<ref>Tripp, s.v. Styx; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D28%3Aentry%3Dstyx-bio-1 s.v. Styx]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:767-806 775&ndash;779].</ref> Hesiod also tells us that Zeus would send [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]], the messenger of the gods, to fetch the "famous cold water" of Styx for the gods to swear by,<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:767-806 780&ndash;786]. Gantz, p. 29 calls this description of the oath as "rather strange", noting that elsewhere simply invoking Styx suffices.</ref> and describes the punishments which would follow the breaking of such an oath:<ref>Although Hesiod does provide consequences for the breaking of such an oath, Gantz, p. 29, says that "one might have thought it unbreakable".</ref>
{{blockquote|For whoever of the deathless gods that hold the peaks of snowy Olympus pours a libation of her water and is forsworn, must lie breathless until a full year is completed, and never come near to taste ambrosia and nectar, but lie spiritless and voiceless on a strewn bed: and a heavy trance overshadows him. But when he has spent a long year in his sickness, another penance more hard follows after the first. For nine years he is cut off from the eternal gods and never joins their councils or their feasts, nine full years. But in the tenth year he comes again to join the assemblies of the deathless gods who live in the house of Olympus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:767-806 793&ndash;804].</ref>}}

The Roman poet [[Ovid]] has [[Jove]] (the Roman equivalent of Zeus) swear by the waters of Styx when he promises [[Semele]]:
{{poemquote|Whatever thy wish, it shall not be denied,
and that thy heart shall suffer no distrust,
I pledge me by that Deity, the Waves
of the deep Stygian Lake,—oath of the Gods.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:3.251-3.313 3.308&ndash;312].</ref>}}
and was then obliged to follow through even though he realized to his horror that Semele's request would lead to her death.<ref>Compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#179 179]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL344.285.xml 8.178&ndash;406], which relate the same story of Semele's death, though with no mention of Zeus having sworn to grant anything Semele wished for.</ref> Similarly [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]] (the Roman equivalent of the Greek [[Helios]]) promised his son [[Phaethon]] whatever he desired, which also resulted in the boy's death after he asked to drive his father's chariot for a day.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:2.1-2.102 2.42&ndash;46].</ref>

===River===
The goddess Styx, like her father Oceanus, and his sons the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river gods]], was also a river, in her case, a river of the Underworld. According to Hesiod, Styx was given one-tenth of her father's water, which flowed far underground, and came up to the surface to pour out from a high rock: 
{{blockquote|the famous cold water ... trickles down from a high and beetling rock. Far under the wide-pathed earth a branch of Oceanus flows through the dark night out of the holy stream, and a tenth part of his water is allotted to her.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:767-806 785&ndash;789].</ref>}}

In the ''Iliad'' the river Styx forms a boundary of Hades, the abode of the dead, in the Underworld.<ref>Gantz, pp. 124&ndash;125; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA109 p. 109].</ref> [[Athena]] mentions the "sheer-falling waters of Styx" needing to be crossed when Heracles returned from Hades after capturing [[Cerberus]],<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.335-8.380 8.366&ndash;369].</ref> and [[Patroclus]]'s shade begs Achilles to bury his corpse quickly so that he might "pass within the gates of Hades" and join the other dead "beyond the River".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:23.54-23.92 23.71&ndash;74].</ref> So too in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', where the Styx winds nine times around the borders of Hades, and the boatman [[Charon]] is in charge of ferrying the dead across it.<ref>Tripp, s.v. Styx; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL063.555.xml 6.317&ndash;326], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL063.559.xml 6.384&ndash;390], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL063.563.xml 6.434&ndash;439].</ref> More usually, however, [[Acheron]] is the river (or lake) which separates the world of the living from the world of the dead.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA109 p. 109], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA113 p. 113]; Gantz, pp. 124&ndash;125. The first mention of Acheron as the river the dead must cross is found in [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/alcaeus-fragments/1982/pb_LCL142.251.xml fr. 38A Campbell] [= P. Oxy. 1233 fr. 1 ii 8–20 + 2166(b)1 = fr. 38A Lobel-Page = fr. 78 Diehl]; compare with [[Sappho]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sappho-fragments/1982/pb_LCL142.119.xml fr. 95 Campbell] [= fr. 95 Lobel-Page = fr. 97 Diehl] where this is implied. See also for example [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-seven_thebes/2009/pb_LCL145.243.xml 854&ndash;860]; [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-antigone/1994/pb_LCL021.79.xml 806&ndash;816]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-alcestis/1994/pb_LCL012.197.xml 435&ndash;444]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.28.1 10.28.1]; [[Plato]], ''[[Phaedo]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg004.perseus-eng1:113d 113d] etc.</ref>

In the ''Odyssey'', [[Circe]] says that the Underworld river [[Cocytus]] is a branch of the Styx.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA109 p. 109]; Gantz, p. 29; Tripp, s.v. Styx; [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10.503-10.545 10.513&ndash;515].</ref> In [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s  ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', [[Phlegyas]] ferries Virgil and Dante across the foul waters of the river Styx which is portrayed as a marsh comprising the [[Hell]]'s Fifth Circle, where the angry and sullen are punished.<ref>Dante, ''Inferno'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy_(Longfellow_1867)/Volume_1/Canto_7 7.106&ndash;130], [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy_(Longfellow_1867)/Volume_1/Canto_8 8.15&ndash;24].</ref>

By [[metonymy]], the adjective ''stygian'' ([[Help:IPA/English|/ˈstɪdʒiən/]]) came to refer to anything unpleasantly dark, gloomy, or forbidding.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of STYGIAN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stygian |website=merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Stygian {{!}} English meaning |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stygian |website=dictionary.cambridge.org}}</ref>

===Other===
In the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to Demeter'' Persephone names Styx as one of her "frolicking" [[Oceanid]]-companions when she was abducted by [[Hades]].<ref>Gantz, p. 29; ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to Demeter'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_2_demeter/2003/pb_LCL496.65.xml 418&ndash;423].</ref>

According to the ''[[Achilleid]]'', written by the Roman poet [[Statius]] in the 1st century AD, when [[Achilles]] was born his mother [[Thetis]] tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx; however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heel.<ref>Burgess, [https://books.google.com/books?id=76n_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 p. 9]; [[Statius]], ''[[Achilleid]]'' [https://archive.org/details/statiuswithengli02statuoft/page/518/mode/2up?view=theater 1.133&ndash;134], [https://archive.org/details/statiuswithengli02statuoft/page/528/mode/2up?view=theater 269&ndash;270], [https://archive.org/details/statiuswithengli02statuoft/page/544/mode/2up?view=theater 480&ndash;481]; compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#107 107] which says that Achilles' heel "was said to be vulnerable" but with no mention of him being dipped in the river Styx.</ref> And so [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] was able to kill Achilles  during the [[Trojan War]] by shooting an arrow into his heel.

In the second-century ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' of [[Apuleius]], one of the impossible trials which [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] imposed on [[Psyche (mythology)|Psyche]] was to fetch water from the Styx.<ref>Tripp, s.v. Psyche; [[James George Frazer|Frazer]] on Pausanias [https://archive.org/details/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog/page/n274/mode/2up?view=theater 8.17.6]; [[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apuleius-metamorphoses/1989/pb_LCL044.277.xml 6.13].</ref> Apuleius has the water guarded by fierce dragons (''dracones''), and from the water itself came fearsome cries of deadly warning. The sheer impossibility of her task caused Psyche to become senseless, as if turned into stone.<ref>[[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apuleius-metamorphoses/1989/pb_LCL044.277.xml 6.14].</ref> Jupiter's eagle admonishes Psyche saying:
{{blockquote|Do you ... really expect to be able to steal, or even touch, a single drop from that holiest—and cruelest—of springs? Even the gods and Jupiter himself are frightened of these Stygian waters. You must know that, at least by hearsay, and that, as you swear by the powers of the gods, so the gods always swear by the majesty of the Styx.<ref>[[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apuleius-metamorphoses/1989/pb_LCL044.279.xml 6.15].</ref>}}

==The Arcadian Styx==
Styx, along with the underworld rivers [[Cocytus]] and [[Acheron]], were associated with waterways in the upper world.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA110 p. 110].</ref> For example, according to Homer, the river [[Titarisios|Titaressus]], a tributary of the river [[Pineios (Thessaly)|Peneius]] in [[Thessaly]], was a branch of the Styx.<ref>Tripp, s.v. Styx; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.734-2.779 2.751&ndash;755]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.18.2 8.18.2]; [[Strabo]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.fragments.15 7 fr. 15].</ref> However Styx has been most commonly associated with an Arcadian stream and waterfall (the [[Mavroneri|Mavronéri]]) that runs through a ravine on the North face of mount [[Chelmos]] and flows into the [[Krathis]] river.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA110 p. 110]; Grimal, s.v. Styx; Herodotus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:6.74 6.74 n.1]; [[James George Frazer|Frazer]] on Pausanias [https://archive.org/details/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog/page/n272/mode/2up?view=theater 8.17.6] (which gives a detailed description of Frazer's visit to the fall of the Styx in 1895).</ref> The fifth-century BC historian [[Herodotus]], locates this stream&mdash;calling it "the water of Styx"&mdash;as being near [[Nonacris]] a town (in what was then ancient [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] and now modern [[Achaea]]) not far from [[Pheneus]], and says that the [[Sparta]]n king [[Cleomenes I|Cleomenes]], would make men take oaths swearing by its water. Herodotus describes it as "a stream of small appearance, dropping from a cliff into a pool; a wall of stones runs round the pool".<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA110 p. 110]; [[Herodotus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:6.74 6.74]. See also [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL418.393.xml 31.26]; [[Plutarch]], ''Alexander'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243%3Achapter%3D77%3Asection%3D2 77.2].</ref> Pausanias reports visiting the "water of the Styx" near Nonacris (which at the time of his visit, in the second century AD, was already a partially-buried ruins), saying that:

{{blockquote|Not far from the ruins is a high cliff; I know of none other that rises to so great a height. A water trickles down the cliff, called by the Greeks the water of the Styx.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.17.6 8.17.6].</ref>}}

According to [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], [[Demeter]] caused the water of this Arcadian Styx "to well up in the neighbourhood of Pheneus".<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''[[De Natura Animalium]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aelian-characteristics_animals/1958/pb_LCL448.335.xml 10.40].</ref> An ancient legend apparently also connected Demeter with this Styx. According to [[Photius I of Constantinople|Photius]], a certain Ptolemy Hephaestion (probably referring to [[Ptolemy Chennus]]) knew of a story, "concerning the water of the Styx in Arcadia", which told how an angry Demeter had turned the Styx's water black.<ref>[[Photius I of Constantinople|Photius]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm#190 codex 190].</ref> According to [[James George Frazer]], this "fable" provided an explanation for the fact that, from a distance, the waterfall appears black.<ref>[[James George Frazer|Frazer]] on Pausanias [https://archive.org/details/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog/page/n272/mode/2up?view=theater 8.17.6]. Frazer says that, although the water of this Styx is "crystal clear", its black appearance is due to a "dark incrustation which spreads over the smooth face of the rock wherever it is washed by the falling water".</ref>

Water from this Styx was said to be poisonous and able to dissolve most substances.<ref>Grimal, s.v. Styx.</ref> The first-century [[natural philosopher]] [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], wrote that drinking its water caused immediate death,<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL330.359.xml 2.231], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL418.393.xml 31.26&ndash;27].</ref> and that the hoof of a female mule was the only material not "rotted" by its water.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL418.373.xml 30.149]. Compare with [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/arrian-anabasis_alexander/1976/pb_LCL269.295.xml 7.27].</ref> According to [[Plutarch]] the poisonous water could only be held by an ass's hoof, since all other vessels would "be eaten through by it, owing to its coldness and pungency."<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Alexander'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243%3Achapter%3D77%3Asection%3D2 77.2].</ref> While according to Pausanias, the only vessel that could hold the Styx's water (poisonous to both men and animals) was a horse's hoof.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.17.6 8.17.6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.18.4 8.18.4&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.19.3 8.19.3]. Compare with [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]]'', [[De Natura Animalium]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aelian-characteristics_animals/1958/pb_LCL448.335.xml 10.40].</ref> There were ancient suspicions that Alexander the Great's death was caused by being poisoned with the water of this Styx.<ref>Mayor, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=igrUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 54], [https://books.google.com/books?id=igrUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 57&ndash;58]. As [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/arrian-anabasis_alexander/1976/pb_LCL269.295.xml 7.27], and [[Plutarch]], ''Alexander'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243%3Achapter%3D77%3Asection%3D2 77.2] tell us, there were some who claimed that [[Aristotle]] had provided the poisonous water. See, for example, [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL418.373.xml 30.149], which also claims that Aristotle had "discovered" the poisonous nature of the water of Styx.</ref>

The Arcadian Styx may have been named so after its mythological counterpart, but it is also possible that this Arcadian stream was the model for the mythological Styx.<ref>See for example Reclus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Es0LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA230 p. 230], who, when describing this Arcadian Styx, assumes the latter saying: "out of this sometimes sombre and sometimes gracious torrent, the ancients made the muddy Styx of the lower world, whose murky floods were forever stirred by the fatal ferryman, Charon". However according to Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA110 p. 110], "There is no way of telling whether the traditional conception of the infernal river was influenced by knowledge of the Arcadian Styx and its falls, or whether, conversely, the Arcadian Styx was first given that name because its chilly falls resembled this of the Styx in Hesiod's description".</ref> The latter seems to be the case, at least, for the Styx in [[Apuleius]]'s ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'', which has [[Venus]], addressing [[Psyche (mythology)|Psyche]], give the following description:<ref>[[James George Frazer|Frazer]] on Pausanias [https://archive.org/details/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog/page/n272/mode/2up?view=theater 8.17.6].</ref>
{{blockquote|Do you see that steep mountain-peak standing above the towering cliff? Dark waves flow down from a black spring on that peak and are enclosed by the reservoir formed by the valley nearby, to water the swamps of Styx and feed the rasping currents of Cocytus.<ref>[[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apuleius-metamorphoses/1989/pb_LCL044.277.xml 6.13].</ref>}}
That Apuleius has his "black spring" being guarded by dragons, also suggests a connection between his Styx and two modern local names for the waterfall: the Black Water (''Mavro Nero'') and the Dragon Water (''Drako Nero'').<ref>[[James George Frazer|Frazer]] on Pausanias [https://archive.org/details/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog/page/n272/mode/2up?view=theater 8.17.6]; Reclus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Es0LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA230 p. 230]. From the "fable" of Demeter turning the Styx black, and Apuleius's description, Frazer concludes that the names Black Water and Dragon Water, probably predate Styx as the name of the fall.</ref>

==Moon==
On 2 July 2013, "Styx" officially became the name of [[Styx (moon)|one of Pluto's moons]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher= [[IAU]] |url= http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau1303/ |title= Names for New Pluto Moons Accepted by the IAU After Public Vote |date= 2 July 2013 |access-date= 2 July 2013 |archive-date= 23 March 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140323102528/http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau1303/ |url-status= dead }}</ref> The other moons of Pluto ([[Charon (moon)|Charon]], [[Nix (moon)|Nix]], [[Hydra (moon)|Hydra]], and [[Kerberos (moon)|Kerberos]]) also have names from [[classical mythology|Greco-Roman mythology]] related to the underworld.

== Genealogy ==
{{chart top|Styx's genealogy<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D104 132&ndash;138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D337 337&ndash;370], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371 383&ndash;385].</ref>}}
{{Tree chart/start|align=center}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | || OUR |y| GAI | | | GAI=[[Gaia]]|OUR=[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | |}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | OCE |y| TET | | | OCE=[[Oceanus]]|TET=[[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]}}
{{Tree chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|(| | | }}
{{Tree chart| RIV | | OCE | | STY |y| PAL | OCE=[[Oceanids]]|RIV=[[River gods (Greek mythology)|River gods]]|STY='''STYX'''|PAL=[[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]]|}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | ZEL | | NIK | | KRA | | BIA | ZEL=[[Zelus]]|NIK=[[Nike (mythology)|Nike]]|KRA=[[Kratos (mythology)|Kratos]]|BIA=[[Bia (mythology)|Bia]]|}}
{{Tree chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="250">
File:Paestum tombe lucanienne 1.jpg|Ferryman Charon embarks with the soul of the deceased. Fresco from an ancient [[Lucanians|Lucanian]] tomb.
File:Lytovchenko Olexandr Kharon.jpg|''Charon carries souls across the river Styx'' by [[Alexander Litovchenko|Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko]].
File:Idata Stigos.jpg|The waters of one possible source for the mythical Styx in the [[Aroania (mountain)|Aroanian mountains]].
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Gjöll]] - Norse mythology
*[[Hitfun]] - Mandaean mythology
*[[Hubur]] - Mesopotamian mythology
*[[Sanzu River]] - Japanese Buddhism
*[[Vaitarna River (mythological)]] - Hinduism and Buddhism
*[[Stygimoloch]]
*[[Styxosaurus]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
=== Ancient sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals, Volume II: Books 6-11'', translated by A. F. Scholfield, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 448, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1959. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL448/1959/volume.xml  Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99493-5}}.
* [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' in ''Aeschylus: Persians. Seven against Thebes. Suppliants. Prometheus Bound.'' Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 145. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99627-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL145/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)]], Volume I: Books 1-6'', edited and translated by J. Arthur Hanson. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 44. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1996. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL044/1996/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]], Volume II: Books 5&ndash;7'', translated by P. A. Brunt, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 269, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1976. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99297-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL269/1983/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Callimachus]], ''Callimachus and Lycophron with an English Translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English Translation by G. R. Mair'', London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Dante]], ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', in ''The Divine Comedy of Dante'', Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (translator), Kessinger Publishing (2004). {{ISBN|1-4191-5994-1}}.
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'' in ''Euripides: Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea'', edited and translated by David Kovacs, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 12, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99560-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL012/1994/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Herodotus]], [[The Histories of Herodotus|''Histories'']], [[A. D. Godley]] (translator), Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1920; {{ISBN|0674991338}}. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+1.1.0 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]], ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to Demeter'', in ''Homeric Hymns. Homeric Apocrypha. Lives of Homer'', edited and translated by Martin L. West, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 496, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99606-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL496/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 3 ''to Apollo'', in ''Homeric Hymns. Homeric Apocrypha. Lives of Homer'', edited and translated by Martin L. West, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 496, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99606-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL496/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 4 ''to Hermes'', in ''Homeric Hymns. Homeric Apocrypha. Lives of Homer'', edited and translated by Martin L. West, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 496, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99606-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL496/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[Fabulae]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at ToposText].
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]], Volume I: Books 1&ndash;15'', translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940 (revised 1984). {{ISBN|978-0-674-99379-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL344/1940/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n7/mode/2up Internet Archive (1940)].
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Plato]], ''[[Phaedo]]'' in ''Plato in Twelve Volumes'', Vol. 1 translated by Harold N. Fowler, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1966. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg004.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''Natural History, Volume VIII: Books 28-32'', translated by W. H. S. Jones, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 418, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1963. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99460-7}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL418/1963/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Plutarch]], ''Alexander'' in ''Lives, Volume VII: Demosthenes and Cicero, Alexander and Caesar'', translated by Bernadotte Perrin. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 99. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1919. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99110-1}}. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0243 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'' in ''Sophocles: Antigone. The Women of Trachis. Philoctetes. Oedipus at Colonus'' Edited and translated by [[Hugh Lloyd-Jones]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 21, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99558-1}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL021/1994/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Statius]], ''Statius with an English Translation by J. H. Mozley'', Volume II, ''Thebaid'', Books V&ndash;XII, ''Achilleid'', [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 207, London: William Heinemann, Ltd., New York: G. P. Putnamm's Sons, 1928. {{ISBN|978-0674992283}}. [https://archive.org/stream/statiuswithengli02statuoft#page/n9/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Strabo]], [[Geographica|''Geography'']], translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html LacusCurtis], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6&ndash;14].
* [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [books 1&ndash;6], in ''Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid: Books 1-6'', translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, revised by G. P. Goold, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 63, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99583-3}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL063/1916/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].

{{refend}}

=== Modern sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Antoni, Silke, s.v. Styx in ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/browse/brill-s-new-pauly Online version].
* [[Apostolos Athanassakis|Athanassakis, Apostolos N]], ''Hesiod: Theogony, Works and days, Shield'', JHU Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-7984-5}}.
* Burgess, Jonathan S., ''The Death and Afterlife of Achilles'', JHU Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-9029-1}}.
* Campbell, David A., ''Greek Lyric, Volume I: Sappho and Alcaeus'', [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 142, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1990. {{ISBN|0-674-99157-5}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL142/1982/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Styx}}
* [[Robert Fowler (academic)|Fowler, R. L.]] (2000), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0198147404}}.
* [[Robert Fowler (academic)|Fowler, R. L.]] (2013), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0198147411}}.
* [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz, Timothy]], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* [[James George Frazer|Frazer, J. G.]], ''Pausanias's Description of Greece. Translated with a Commentary by J. G. Frazer.'' Vol IV. Commentary on Books VI-VIII, Macmillan, 1898. [https://archive.org/stream/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog#page/n6/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* Hard, Robin (2004), ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* Jost, Madeleine, s.v. Styx in ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', [https://oxfordre.com/classics/page/about?t:state:client=6iyt2EsZakJZ+d+mLqTV+WJUN/0=:H4sIAAAAAAAAAFWOvUoDQRSFb/xBJdjY+AJil/lxCckiQVAihCwiBO2H2Zt1zOzMeGeSuI2tpS/iC1lb21lZuTYBiwPn8B0O5/0Ldtc7ANCJBFNPFVNB6QdkSQWMiZo+My4hOWVZRFoZjZFdWYMu3SJFE1Prrg3acpY8qQondbAnU2w+vo/f9j5/Xrdgu4Cu9nXwrq1OygRHxaNaKW6Vq/gskXHVeQEH87+RG1XjE7xAp4D90K5t8nMICbqEpSHU6Y5sgkMfPb83uB679meCmmurYjQ68tLEYFXDpWBS5BlXmnDuCXk+GAqZ59lQyqzPhJCthNzw3j/ew95QZGcXFBfYjJaZHlwuTgnj0qaR/AXDycvnOQEAAA== digital edition]
* Mayor, Adrienne, "Alexander the Great: A Questionable Death" in ''History of Toxicology and Environmental Health: Toxicology in Antiquity Volume I'', Philip Wexler (editor), Academic Press, 2014. {{isbn|978-0-12-800463-0}}.
* Parada, Carlos, ''Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology'', Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. {{ISBN|978-91-7081-062-6}}.
* Reclus, Onésime, ''A Bird's-eye View of the World'', Ticknor, 1892.
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]], ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). {{ISBN|069022608X}}.
* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]] (1966), ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-814169-6}}.
* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]] (2003), ''Homeric Hymns. Homeric Apocrypha. Lives of Homer'', edited and translated by Martin L. West, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 496, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99606-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL496/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|Styx}}
{{Commons category|Styx}}

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