Acherusia

In Greek mythology, Acherusia (Ancient Greek: 'Αχερουσια λιμνη or 'Αχερουσις) was a name given by the ancients to several lakes or swamps, which, like the various rivers called Acheron, were at some time believed to be connected with the underworld, until at last the Acherusia came to be considered to be in the lower world itself.

The lake to which this belief seems to have been first attached was the Acherusia in Thesprotia, through which the river Acheron flowed.[1] Other lakes or swamps of the same name, and believed to be in connection with the lower world, were near Hermione in Argolis,[2] near Heraclea in Bithynia,[3] between Cumae and cape Misenum in Campania,[4] and lastly in Egypt, near Memphis.[5]

In Greek mythology, it was also the name of a cavern through which Heracles dragged Cerberus as one of his Twelve Labors.

Acheron

Notes

Thucydides, i. 46 & Strabo, Geographica vii. p. 324.
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 2.35.7
Xenophon Anab. vi.2.2 & Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 14.31
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 3.5 & Strabo, Geographica v. p. 243

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 1.96

References

Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia. Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff. Lipsiae. Teubner. 1906. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acherusia". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

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