Part 2- Mythological Allusions: River Styx

River Styx   Mythological Allusion  Source: Edith Hamilton's Mythology

• Located in the Underworld and home to those who are dead
• Separated the world of the living from the world of the dead
• Once your soul go to the river, the Charon would give you a ride but you had to pay with the coins you were buried with
• If you received a ride or swam across the River Styx, you had to wait for reincarnation
• Some souls were sent to Hades as punishment

Commentary: The purpose of the River Styx is crossing thresholds from the mortal living world to the dead underworld. Another example of crossing thresholds comes from the movie Back to the Future. Marty McFly has to cross the threshold from modern day 1980 to back in time to 1950.