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tags:rivers
rel: River and Death Survey of Being Lost
One of the rivers of the underworld of Hades. Also known as the river of unmindfulness.
Lethe flowed around the cave of Hypnos and through the underworld where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. The river was often associated with Lethe, the personification of forgetfulness and oblivion, who was the daughter of Eris (strife.)
In classical Greek lethe literally means forgetting or forgetfulness.
The shades of death were required to drink the waters of Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. Only once the dead have lost their memories can they be reincarnated.
An Orphic inscription warns readers to avoid Lethe and seek Mnemosyne instead. Their thirst will not be quenched in Lethe, causing them to drink more than necessary.
A few mystery religions taught the existence of another river, the Mnemosyne; those who drank from the Mnemosyne would remember everything and attain omniscience. Initiates were taught that they would receive a choice of rivers to drink from after death, and to drink from Mnemosyne instead of Lethe.
Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne presided over a pool in Hades, a counterpart to Lethe.