1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Acheron

ACHERON, in Greek mythology, the son of Gaea or Demeter. As a punishment for supplying the Titans with water in their contest with Zeus, he was turned into a river of Hades, over which departed souls were ferried by Charon. The name (meaning the river of “woe”) was eventually used to designate the whole of the lower world (Stobaeus, Ecl. Phys. i. 41, §§ 50, 54).