Definition/Summary:

Mythology

• Acheron
• “river of woe” In Hades Newly dead were ferried across by Charon Those neutral in life must stay on bank.

Expanded info:

• Acheron flowed in the opposite direction from Oceanus beneath the earth under desert places. The word sometimes substituted for Hades itself.
• Virgil mentions Acheron with the other infernal rivers in his description of the underworld here Juno states the famous saying, flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo: ‘If I cannot bend the will of Heaven, I shall move Hell.
• The Acheron was sometimes referred to as a lake or swamp in Greek literature “The Frogs”
• In Dante’s Inferno, the Acheron river forms the border of Hell.
• Charon ferries souls across this river to Hell. Those who were neutral in life sit on the banks
• To cross must pay toll with coins placed upon the eyes

Add/Misc:

Reference to psychology

• ‘If I cannot bend the will of Heaven, I shall move Hell” a psychological underworld beneath the conscious mind. -Sigmund Freud
• The Interpretation of Dreams Acheron described as psychological underworld beneath the conscious mind