Editing Phlegethon (section)

==Mythology==
According to [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', the Phlegethon feeds into the river Acheron, alongside the Cocytus.<ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/phlegeton-e922850 s.v. Phlegethon (2)]; [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10.503-10.545 10.513&ndash;4].</ref> [[Plato]] describes it as "a stream of fire, which coils round the  earth and flows into the depths of [[Tartarus]]".<ref>[[Plato]], [[Phaedo]] 112b.</ref>

In [[Orphic literature]], in which there are four rivers of the underworld, the Phlegethon is associated with the element of fire, and the direction east.<ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/phlegeton-e922850 s.v. Phlegethon (2)]; Orphic fr. 123 II (I p. 283), IV (I p. 283) Bernabé.</ref>

In ''[[Oedipus (Seneca)|Oedipus]]'' by [[Seneca the Younger]], the first singing of the chorus, which mainly describes the plague that has settled in [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]], includes the line, "Phlegethon has changed his course and mingled Styx with Theban streams." While this is not essential to the plot of the play, the line figuratively serves to suggest Death has become physically present in [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]].