Name (from the Greek verb signifying "to abhor") of the principal river of the nether world, which it flows sluggishly round seven times; is properly the river of death, which all must cross to enter the unseen world, and of which, in the Greek mythology, Charon was the ferryman. In their solemn engagements it was by this river the gods took oath to signify that they would forego their godhood if they swore falsely. The Styx was a branch of the Great Ocean which girds the universe. See Oceanus .