Achelous
Achelous was the god of the mightiest river in Greece and father of the Sirens — he wrestled Heracles for the right to marry Deianira.
The Myth of Achelous
Achelous was the mightiest river god in Greece, honoured as the father of all freshwater and worshipped from Athens to the colonies of Sicily. He could shapeshift into a bull, a serpent, and a man with a bull's face. When Heracles sought the hand of Deianira, daughter of the king of Calydon, Achelous challenged him. They wrestled savagely — Achelous shifting through all his forms — until Heracles snapped off one of his horns. This broken horn became the cornucopia, the horn of plenty, which the Naiads filled with fruits and flowers. Achelous conceded Deianira and retreated to his river. His daughters were the Sirens, born from his union with the Muse Melpomene.
Parents
Oceanus and Tethys
Children
The Sirens, Callirhoe, the springs of Pirene
Symbols
Fun Fact
The broken horn of Achelous became the Cornucopia — the Horn of Plenty that appears at every Thanksgiving.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Inachus
⚡ godriver, Argos
River god of the Inachus and legendary first king of Argos.
Peneus
⚡ godriver, Thessaly
River god of the Peneus in Thessaly, father of Daphne.
Asopus
⚡ godriver, justice
River god of the Asopus in Boeotia, father of many nymphs.
Scamander
⚡ godriver, Troy
River god of the Scamander, the great river of the Trojan plain.
Cephissus
⚡ godriver, purification
River god of the Cephissus, the principal river of Attica and Boeotia.
Alpheus
⚡ godriver, pursuit
River god of the Alpheus, the largest river in the Peloponnese.
Menesthius
🗡 heroMyrmidon leadership, river god heritage
Son of the river god Spercheius who commanded one of the five Myrmidon divisions at Troy
Asteropaios
🗡 heroNone recorded
Paeonian warrior who fought for Troy and duelled Achilles at the river Scamander
Asopus River
🏛 placegeography
A Boeotian river personified as a god whose daughters were repeatedly abducted by Olympian gods.
Metope
🌿 nymphrivers, motherhood
A river nymph, daughter of the river Ladon, who married the river god Asopus and bore him twenty daughters — many of whom were abducted by gods.
Cephissus River
🏛 placeSacred geography
A river in Boeotia and Attica sacred to multiple deities and personified as a river-god
Neptune
⚡ godSea, earthquakes, horses
Roman god of the sea and freshwater, identified with the Greek Poseidon but originally a deity of springs and rivers