Underworld
Styx
ΣτύξRoman: Styx
The oath the gods cannot break, and the first Titan to change sides.
Drawing, c. 1790 — Cooper Hewitt
- 2
- epithets
- 1
- cult site
- 1
- offspring
- 0
- unions
- 1
- recorded birth
Vitals
- Kind
- Personification
- Generation
- 2
- Domains
- the binding oath, the river between worlds, hatred
- Accent
- Underworld — the dead, the pit, what is under the ground
- Sacred symbols
- the black water, the golden pitcher
- Principal cult sites
- Nonakris in Arkadia
What they were called
Στύξ
the hateful, the shuddering
ἀθάνατος
deathless
Lineage
See in the tree
Offspring in this roster
Notable myths
The First to Arrive
Zeus summoned the gods and promised that no one who fought with him against the Titans would lose their rank. Styx came first, on her father Okeanos's advice, and brought her four children with her. Zeus honoured her by making her the oath that binds the gods, and kept Victory and Force standing next to him from that day.
Hesiod, Theogony 383-403
The account
Styx is the eldest of the Okeanids and the one who arrived first. When Zeus called the gods to Olympos and promised that anyone who fought beside him would keep their honours, Styx came before anyone else, bringing her children Zelos, Nike, Kratos and Bia — Rivalry, Victory, Power and Force — and Zeus set them permanently beside his throne. Her reward was to become the oath. A god who swears by the water of Styx and lies is struck breathless for a year and then cut off from the councils and the feasts of the gods for nine more. Iris fetches the water in a golden pitcher when an oath has to be sworn. Hesiod describes the river itself as a branch of Okeanos running down through black night under the wide earth, a tenth part of the whole flow. Pausanias reports that the Arkadians showed visitors a real waterfall near Nonakris and said it was that water, and that it dissolved metal and glass.
Ancient sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 337-370
- Hesiod, Theogony 383-403
Where a line reference is not given, the work is cited without one rather than guessed at.
Image credit
- Title
- Drawing, Thetis Plunges Achilles in River Styx, ca. 1790
- Artist
- Unknown artist Unknown artist
- Date
- circa 1790
- Licence
- Public domain
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