Cocytus

Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, Cocytus, meaning river of wailing (Greek κωκυτός, "lamentation") was the river in the underworld on the banks of which the dead who could not pay Charon wandered, according to most accounts, for one hundred years. It flowed into the river Acheron, across which lay Hades, the mythological abode of the dead.

Christian Mythology

In The Divine Comedy (Inferno), Cocytus is the ninth and lowest circle of Hell and is frozen by the flapping wings of Lucifer, or Satan. In the Inferno Cocytus is referred to as a frozen lake rather than a river, although it originates from the same source as the other infernal rivers. Dante described it as being the home of traitors and those who committed acts of complex fraud. It is divided into four descending "rounds," or sections:

• Caina, after the Biblical Cain; traitors to blood relatives.
• Antenora, after Antenor from the Iliad; traitors to country.
• Ptolomea, after Ptolemy, governor of Jericho, who murdered his guests (1 Maccabees); traitors to guests.
• Judecca, after Judas Iscariot; traitors to masters and benefactors.

Lucifer is at the center of the circle, his lower body trapped in ice, and is depicted with three mouths. One mouth gnaws on Brutus and another on Cassius, the leading conspirators against Julius Caesar, and both are chewed feet foremost with their heads protruding. The chewed head of Judas is in the centre mouth.

In Popular Culture

• The name Cocytus was also given to the setting (on a mythical island off the coast of the American state of North Carolina) of the novel A Snowman in July by Gary Bolick, and to a planet in the science fiction novel The Dig, by Alan Dean Foster, based on the LucasArts adventure video game.

• Cocytus is also the name of a sword wielded by Cervantes de Leon in Soul Calibur II. Fittingly, it is described as having been excavated from permafrost, and is perpetually frozen.

• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 for PS2 both feature a spell called Cocytus. While not the most powerful Ice-element spell in the game, it has a high rate of freezing enemies, leaving them vulnerable to critical attacks.

• In Wild Arms 2, Cocytus is the name of a special ops unit within Odessa, with each of its members named after the four sections (Judecca, Caina, Antenora, and Ptolomea).

• In the Super Robot Taisen series, there is a boss machine named the Judecca, whose weapons are named after the four sections.

• In the MMORPG Anarchy Online, the zones in the last area of the Shadowlands are named Caina, Antenora, Ptolemea, and Judecca.