Eridanus
A mythological river associated with the fall of Phaethon and later identified with the constellation and the Po River
The Story of Eridanus
The Eridanus was a mythological river at the western edge of the known world, most famous as the site where Phaethon fell burning from the sky after losing control of his father Helios's sun chariot. Zeus struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt to prevent the chariot from scorching the earth, and the boy plunged into the Eridanus, where his body was recovered by the river-nymphs and his grieving sisters, the Heliades, who wept tears of amber as they were transformed into poplar trees on the riverbank. The story explained the origin of amber, which was traded from the Baltic through river networks to the Mediterranean. Ancient writers attempted to identify the mythological Eridanus with real rivers: most commonly the Po in northern Italy, but also the Rhone and even rivers near the Baltic amber sources. The Eridanus was also placed among the stars as a constellation — a winding chain of stars flowing southward from Orion, representing the celestial river. The myth of Phaethon and the Eridanus was one of the most frequently depicted scenes in Greek and Roman art.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The tears of Phaethon's sisters turning to amber on the banks of the Eridanus was the Greek explanation for Baltic amber reaching Mediterranean markets
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
Cephissus River
🏛 placeSacred geography
A river in Boeotia and Attica sacred to multiple deities and personified as a river-god
Acheron River
🏛 placeUnderworld geography
The river of woe in the Greek underworld across which the dead were ferried by Charon
Asopus River
🏛 placegeography
A Boeotian river personified as a god whose daughters were repeatedly abducted by Olympian gods.
Xanthus River
🏛 placegeography
The principal river of Lycia in Anatolia, where the Lycian hero Sarpedon's homeland was located.
Methone
🏛 placegeography
A Macedonian coastal town where the archer Aster shot out the eye of Philip II — and mythologically associated with Ariadne.
Pieria
🏛 placeSacred geography
The region at the foot of Mount Olympus sacred to the Muses, who were sometimes called the Pierides
Meroe
🏛 placegeography
A distant African kingdom mentioned in Greek mythology as the land at the source of the Nile, associated with the Ethiopians.
Alpheus River
🏛 placegeography
The longest river in the Peloponnese, personified as a god who pursued the nymph Arethusa beneath the sea.
Ladon River
🏛 placegeography
An Arcadian river whose nymph daughter Syrinx was transformed into river reeds, giving Pan his pipes.
Tempe
🏛 placeSacred geography
The Vale of Tempe, a gorge in Thessaly sacred to Apollo where laurel for the Pythian Games was gathered
Sestos
🏛 placeGeography
A city on the European shore of the Hellespont, home of Hero in the tale of Hero and Leander
Chaonia
🏛 placegeography
A region of northwestern Greece (Epirus) associated with the oracle of Dodona and the earliest Greek mythology.