Lethe is one of the five rivers of Hades, the underworld in Greek mythology. In classical Greek, it means forgetfulness or concealment. According to classical mythology, Lethe was also the name of a Greek spirit: the spirit of forgetfulness.
Where is Lethe?
It is believed that the River Lethe flowed through the caves of Hypnos, the god of sleep, in the underworld. The entrance to the cave is said to be populated by poppies and other hypnotic plants. Neither light nor sound entered the cave. The river bordered Elysium, the paradise where only heroes and mortals related to the gods were sent to live an immortal life of happiness. The names of the five rivers of Hades reflected the emotions associated with death: the Styx, the river of hatred; the Acheron, the river of pain; the Cocytus, the river of wailing; the Phlegethon, the river of fire; and the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
What happened to those who drank from the Lethe?
All who drank from the river experienced forgetfulness, and the murmur of the Lethe induced drowsiness. When the souls of the dead passed into the afterlife, they had to drink from the river to forget their past life and be ready for reincarnation. The myth of Er tells the story of a man who died in battle and his vivid experience of the afterlife and the river Lethe. Ten days after the battle, when the bodies were being collected, his body remained un decomposed.
Er had traveled to the afterlife with many other souls from the battle and found himself in an extraordinary place with four mysterious openings. One set of openings led in and out of the sky, and the other led in and out of the earth. Judges directed the approaching souls, sending the immoral down and the virtuous up to heaven. When Er approached the judges, they told him to wait and observe so that he could report what he had seen.
The souls that emerged from the opening in the sky recounted the joyful and uplifting visions and feelings they had experienced, while those who returned from below spoke of the despair and evil they had endured. After seven days, Er traveled with the other souls to a place where a glowing rainbow ruled the sky.
Here, he and his fellow travelers were given a numbered ticket. When their number was called, they were asked to choose their next life. Er noticed that everyone chose an existence antithetical to their previous life. A soul that had been good chose to be a dictator, one that had been an animal chose to be human, and others who had been evil chose a humble and virtuous life.
From there, Er and his cohorts traveled to the plane of oblivion, where the river Lethe flowed. Each traveler had to drink a certain amount from the river. Er was only allowed to watch as each soul drank, forgot its previous existence, and was sent to begin its journey anew. Er did not remember being sent back to Earth, but he awoke on the funeral pyre and was able to remember his entire expedition through the afterlife. Since he had not drunk from the River Lethe, he did not have a blank slate like his fellow travelers.
The river could not stop the memories of a figure from Greek mythology: Aethalides. Aethalides was the mortal son of Hermes and a member of the Argonauts. Although he drank from the river and was reincarnated as Euphorbus, Hermotius, Pyrrhus, and then Pythagoras, he could still remember his previous lives and the knowledge he had acquired in those incarnations. He was gifted with an infallible memory that even the River Lethe could not conquer!
A river to forget and another to remember
A similar concept existed in the mysterious Orphic religion. The Orphic religion was thought to be based on the teachings and songs of the mythical poet and musician Orpheus. The teachings introduced the existence of another important river, the Mnemosyne. Followers were taught that they would have to choose between two rivers to drink from when they passed into the afterlife. They should not drink from the Lethe, but from the Mnemosyne, for then they would remember everything.
Orphics were taught about the divinity of the human soul and how the soul is trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth in a body. They believed that they could attain omniscience and ultimately end the transmigration of their soul through an ascetic life! Followers of the religion were buried with gold leaf tablets containing instructions for after death. One of the common messages presented to rulers in the afterlife read: “I am thirsty and dying; quickly give me cold water from the Lake of Memory to drink.”
Influences of literary lethargy
The River Lethe influenced not only philosophers but also writers and poets of the classical era, such as Dante, Keats, and Byron, and even contemporary works by writers such as Sylvia Plath and Stephen King. In Keats’ work, Ode to Melancholy, he wishes that those who suffer from sadness do not forget their suffering: “No, no, do not go to Lethe, nor to Twist. A wolf’s banderilla, narrow-rooted, for its poisonous wine; Do not let them kiss your pale forehead, by the shadow of the night, ruby grape of Proserpine;”
Real rivers of forgetfulness
The Limia River, between Spain and Portugal, was believed to be the Lethe, as it supposedly caused a similar loss of memory. This legend persisted until 138 BC. The Roman general Decimus Junius Brutus had a war to win and no time for local myth to stand in the way of his victory. He refuted the legend by crossing to the riverbank and calling his soldiers one by one, by name!
In Spain, another river, the Guadalete, was originally called the Leteo by local settlers from Greece and Phoenicia. The two groups were about to go to war, but instead they settled their differences amicably by naming the river Lete and thus forgetting their old dispute. The river was renamed Guadalete when the Arabs conquered the region later, but Guadalete means “river Lete” in Arabic.
Unraveling the mysteries of death and rebirth was the domain of ancient philosophers and formed the basis of many religious doctrines. By not drinking from the river Leteo, the soul could be saved from the frustrating cycle of death, oblivion, and rebirth, and from a state of religious awakening. But for those who thirst for a clean slate and wish to continue on a path of blissful ignorance, the refreshing waters of Lethe await.
