Does anyone know what river it was that Apollo crossed each night to get to the other side of the earth, so that he could ride his chariot again the next day?
I would appreciate any help.
I'm not for certain John, but you might check the Wikipedia article here:
[en.wikipedia.org] />
Les
Thanks, I think I had the name wrong. I have been trying to write a Greek epic and this was an important part of it. I could only come up with Apollo's voyage actually being the Greek and not the Roman view, so the name Helios was more accurate and not Apollo, but thanks for the response, it is much appreciated.
It may be Oceanus that you're looking for. My Classical Dictionary, William Smith, 1856. says that Homer describes Halios as rising in the east from Oceanus, traversing the heavens, and descending in the evening into the darkness of the west and Oceanus.
Thats all that I could come up with. For some reason I thought that Apollo traveled through Hades on one of the rivers at night, but I cannot find any proof of that.
It may be Oceanus ...
Right.
[www.answers.com] />
Well, I learned a lot chasing this one on line.
First (though not relevant to the question):
“the five rivers which separated Hades from the living [are]:
the Acheron, the river of woe,
the Cocytus, the river of lamentation,
the Phlegethon, the river of fire,
the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness,
and the Styx, the river of hate.”
I had heard of Lethe, but thought Styx was the only one bordering Hades.
Next (and relevant) - I found a mythology page with a section on "THE NIGHTTIME PATH OF HELIOS": [www.theoi.com]
It doesn't say anything about the sun crossing a river as such. It quotes various primary and secondary sources saying things like:
[In the ODYSSEY, Home alludes] "to the belief that the Sun returns to the east by sailing in his golden cup around the Northern path of the Ocean-stream"
"A lovely bed, hollow, forged by the hands of Hephaistos, of precious gold and winged, carries him, as he sleeps soundly, over the waves on the water’s surface from the place of the Hesperides [in the West] to the land of the Aithiopes [in the East], where his swift chariot and horses stand until early-born Eos (the Dawn) comes."
“By now Sol [Helios the Sun] had glided down beneath Oceanus, and was giving light to the regions of the world below the earth [presumably meaning subterranean Elysion].” –Apuleius 9.22
On June 19, 1846, at Elysian Fields, on a peaceful meadow nestled beside the banks of the Hudson River in Hoboken NJ, two teams - the Knickerbockers and the New York Club at Elysian Fields, met to play a new and radical form of various bat-and-ball games that were popular at the time and, there gave birth to America's national pastime.