Note 685 — TEMPLE RITES

Milton supposes the river to have been named from the Greek word κωκυτος: but the reverse is the truth. From the baleful river and temple Co-cutus came the Greek terms κωκυτος, and κωκυω. Acheron, another infernal river, was properly a temple of Achor, the θεος απομυιος of Egypt, Palestine, and Cyrene. It was a temple of the Sun, called Achor-On: and it gave name to the river, on whose banks it stood. Hence like Cocutus it was looked upon as a melancholy stream, and by the Poet Theocritus styled [685]Αχεροντα πολυστονον, the river of lamentations. Aristophanes speaks of an eminence of this name, and calls it [686]Αχεροντιος σκοπελος ἁιματοσταγης, the rock of Acheron, dropping blood.