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{{Short description|Mythological river of Hades (Greece)}}
{{For|the Spanish death metal vocalist|Phlegeton}}
{{Greek underworld}}

In [[Greek mythology]], the river '''Phlegethon''' ({{langx|grc|[[wikt:Φλεγέθων|Φλεγέθων]]||flaming}}) or '''Pyriphlegethon''' ({{lang|grc|Πυριφλεγέθων}}, {{gloss|fire-flaming}}) is one of the five rivers in the infernal regions of [[Greek underworld|the underworld]], along with the rivers [[Styx]], [[Lethe]], [[Cocytus]], and [[Acheron]].

==Mythology==
According to [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', the Phlegethon feeds into the river Acheron, alongside the Cocytus.<ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/phlegeton-e922850 s.v. Phlegethon (2)]; [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10.503-10.545 10.513&ndash;4].</ref> [[Plato]] describes it as "a stream of fire, which coils round the  earth and flows into the depths of [[Tartarus]]".<ref>[[Plato]], [[Phaedo]] 112b.</ref>

In [[Orphic literature]], in which there are four rivers of the underworld, the Phlegethon is associated with the element of fire, and the direction east.<ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/phlegeton-e922850 s.v. Phlegethon (2)]; Orphic fr. 123 II (I p. 283), IV (I p. 283) Bernabé.</ref>

In ''[[Oedipus (Seneca)|Oedipus]]'' by [[Seneca the Younger]], the first singing of the chorus, which mainly describes the plague that has settled in [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]], includes the line, "Phlegethon has changed his course and mingled Styx with Theban streams." While this is not essential to the plot of the play, the line figuratively serves to suggest Death has become physically present in [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]].

==''The Divine Comedy''==
In [[Dante Alighieri|Dante's]] ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', which is the first part of ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', Phlegethon is described as a river of blood that boils souls. It is in the Seventh Circle of Hell, which punishes those who committed crimes of violence against their fellow men (see Canto XII, 46–48); murderers, tyrants, and the like. By causing hot blood to flow through their violent deeds in life, they are now sunk in the flowing, boiling blood of the Phlegethon. The depth at which each sinner must stand in the river is determined by the level of violence they caused in life; Dante sees [[Attila|Attila the Hun]] and [[Alexander the Great]] up to their eyebrows. [[Centaur]]s patrol the circle, firing arrows at those who try to rise above their allotted level in the river. Dante and [[Virgil]] cross Phlegethon with help from [[Nessus (centaur)|Nessus]].

==Notes==
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==References==
* Bernabé, Alberto (1996), ''Poetae epici Graeci: Testimonia et fragmenta, Pars I'', [[Bibliotheca Teubneriana]], Stuttgart and Leipzig, Teubner, 1996. {{ISBN|978-3-815-41706-5}}. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110936995 Online version at De Gruyter].
* ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 11'', Phi-Prok, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, [[Brill Publishers|Brill]], 2007. {{ISBN|978-90-04-14216-9}}. [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/brill-s-new-pauly Online version at Brill].
* [[Homer]], ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1.1-1.43 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

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[[Category:Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Divine Comedy]]