In ancient Greek
mythology, Acheron was known as the river of woe, and was one of the five
rivers of the Greek underworld. In the Homeric poems the Acheron was described
as a river of Hades, into which Cocytus and Phlegethon both flowed.
The Roman poet
Virgil called it the principal river of Tartarus, from which the Styx and
Cocytus both sprang. The newly dead would be ferried across the Acheron by
Charon in order to enter the Underworld. The Suda describes
the river as "a place of healing, not a place of punishment, cleansing and
purging the sins of humans."
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheron
