The Music on my Blog

The Rivers Suite

The River Suite is an 8 part symphonic composition (I am still working on part 6 and 8). It draws its inspiration from the mythological Greek Underworld Hades. Each part being a geographic location found in the mythology.

-Acheron-
The River of Woe, it was believed by the ancient Greeks that this river was
a branch of the River Styx and it carried the souls of the dead to Hades.

-Styx-
Perhaps the most familiar river of Greek mythology. Guarded by Charon who would ferry the souls across into the underworld.

-Lethe-
After crossing the River Styx the dead souls can drink the waters of Lethe and experience complete forgetfulness. Lethe translates from Greek as concealment.

-Asphodel Meadows-
One of three places that souls can be sent. This area of Hades is home to the souls of people that were neither saints nor sinners, the ones in between. It is a limbo, a world of nothing.

-Phlegethon-
The River of Fire which burns but does not consume. It is said that the Lord of this river was once the lover of the Goddess Styx. Thus it flows parallel to the river Styx as it makes its way to the depths of Tartarus.

-Tartarus-
Associated with the Christian Hell, Tartarus is filled with demons and horrors. The souls sent here are evil and spend eternity being tormented.

-Cocytus-
The River of Lamentations. A dismal and sluggish frozen river in which the souls of the unburied are trapped for one hundred years in the slime and slushy waters frozen by the beating of Lucifer's wings.

-Elysium-
This is the home of the heroes those who's heart are filed with goodness. A paradise were the souls favored by the Gods would live in bliss forever.