The five rivers of the Greek underworld — Styx, Acheron, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Cocytus — flow through Hades's realm, each embodying a different aspect of death: hatred, woe, forgetfulness, fire, and lamentation.
In Homer's Odyssey 10.513, Phlegethon is a tributary that flows into the Acheron at the entrance to the underworld. Circe instructs Odysseus to navigate past their junction to reach the land of the dead.
In Plato's Phaedo and Virgil's Aeneid, Phlegethon flows into Tartarus, encircling the fortress where the worst sinners are punished. Its fires serve as both a boundary and an instrument of divine justice.
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