🌊 Mythical river 🌊 A river of forgetting

Lethe

9.9

A river in the land of the dead whose water makes souls forget their past lives

noun
/ˈliːθi/

Literature

: Lethe

She wished she could immerse her painful memories in the waters of Lethe.

Examples

Poets often invoke the Lethe as a metaphor for oblivion or forgetfulness.
In ancient texts, a soul would drink from the Lethe before entering a new life.
In Greek mythology, the river Lethe flows through Hades.
The souls drank from Lethe to forget their past lives.
In Greek mythology, the river Lethe allowed souls to forget their earthly suffering before moving on to the afterlife.
The inhabitants of Hades drank from the Lethe to erase their memories of life above.
According to legend, crossing the Lethe meant that the souls would forget everything they had experienced in their past lives.

Synonyms

River Lethe

vsLethe

Literature

9.9

A river in the world of the dead whose water makes people forget their past lives

is the same name but without the word that identifies it as a river

Compounds

River Lethe

Literature

9.9

A river in the world of the dead whose water makes people forget their past lives

Surface Forms

Lethe singular

Lethes plural

Etymology

Lethe comes from the ancient Greek word lēthē, which means 'forgetfulness'. In myth its waters made souls forget their past lives, so Lethe is often used as a simple image for forgetting pain or falling into oblivion.