Achelous

For the river, see Acheloos River

In Greek mythology, Achelous (Greek: Αχελώος), was the patron deity of the river by the same name, which is the largest river of Greece, and thus the chief of all river deities, every river having its own river spirit. His name translates as "he who washes away care". Some legends say that Achelous was the son of Poseidon, others say that he was the son of Earth and Helios. However, ancient Greeks generally believed that Tethys and Oceanus were the parents of all river gods. Achelous was a suitor for Deianeira, daughter of Oeneus king of Calydon, but was defeated by Heracles, who wed her himself. Sophocles pictures a mortal woman's terror at being courted by a chthonic river god:

'My suitor was the river Achelóüs,

who took three forms to ask me of my father:

a rambling bull once, then a writhing snake

of gleaming colors, then again a man

with ox-like face: and from his beard's dark shadows

stream upon stream of water tumbled down.

Such was my suitor.' (Sophocles, Trachiniae)

The sacred bull the serpent and the Minotaur are all creatures associated with the Earth Goddess Gaia. Achelous was most often depicted as a gray-haired old man with a horned head and a serpent-like body. Other times, the god appeared as half man-half bull, and other times as a snake. When he battled Heracles over the river nymph Deianeira, Achelous turned himself into a bull. Heracles tore off one of his horns and forced the god to surrender. Achelous had to trade the goat horn of Amalthea to get it back. Heracles gave it to the Naiads, who transformed it into the cornucopia.

He was sometimes the father of the Sirens by Terpsichore.

The mouth of the Acheloos river was the spot where Alcmaeon finally found peace from the Erinyes. Achelous offered him Callirhoe, his daughter, in marriage if Alcmaeon would retrieve the clothing and jewelry his mother, Eriphyle, had been wearing when she sent her husband, Amphiaraus to his death. Alcmaeon had to retrieve the clothes from King Phegeus, who sent his sons to kill Alcmaeon.

Ovid, Metamorphoses, VIII, 547, IX, 1, and X, 87.

In another mythic context, the Achelous was said to be formed by the tears of Niobe, who fled to Mt. Sipylon after the deaths of her husband and children.

At the mouth of the Achelous River lie the Echinades Islands. According to myth, the Echinades Islands were once five nymphs. Unfortunately for them, they forgot to honor Achelous in their festivities, and the god was so angry about this slight that he turned them into the islands.

Modern Influences

In Final Fantasy X, Achelous is a water-dwelling enemy.

In Soul Calibur III, Achelous is the father of Cassandra & Sophitia.

References

Andrews, Tamra. A Dictionary of Nature Myths, 1998. ISBN # 0-19-513677-2
March, Jenny. Cassell’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology, 2001. ISBN # 0-304-35788-X

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