Inktober 52 2024 Week #15: RIVER

“Depending on how well versed anyone may or may not be in Greek mythology, I may have to explain this interpretation of the prompt ‘river’. When I saw the prompt, two things came to mind: Billy Joel’s hit ‘River of Dreams’ (which has been stuck in my head for days now) and the river Styx. It was the body of water that separated the land of the living from the dead, and the ferryman Charon would transport the dead to Hades. Styx is apparently also a goddess, daughter of the Titan Oceanus. She sided with Zeus in the war against the Titans, so to honor her, Zeus decreed that the solemn oaths of gods were to be made at the river Styx. It’s also the river that sea nymph and water goddess Thetis dunked her infant son Achilles in to make him invulnerable.

Mythologies from various cultures are pretty interesting and fascinating. I really want to spend more time delving into them. I only have very rough knowledge of Greek, Norse, Japanese, and Chinese, but I know there’s a lot of great creative inspiration to be found there. Despite not having a deep knowledge, I find them compelling enough that my wife and I named all three of our sons after mythological characters from different cultures. I don’t know what they think about that or how it affected their school-age years, but I thought it was a cool parenting move on our part.”

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