Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 3 -- Roman Encyclopedists
The table below illustrates the spectrum of speculation about the Nile.
Reported Disappearance Reported Reappearance
The Antichthon (the opposite hemisphere) Ethiopia
Three North African streams Spring on Mt. Atlas
The Euphrates in a Mesopotamian marsh The Nile beyond Ethiopia
Crocodile-infested lake, Mauretania, W. Africa Nile headwaters in 20 days
The Nile in a highland lake Lower Ethiopia
The Nile Inopus in Delos, a sacred island in the
Cyclades
Lake Moeris, Nile Valley Fountain of Apollo, Cyrene, Libya, or
alternatively, in Sidra
The Fountain of Apollo still gushes from a
tunnel hewn into rock as it did before the birth
of Christ.
Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) is better known as Virgil.
Although his Georgics (29 BC) refers to rivers which issue from
caverns as homes to Nymphs, we include this Roman in our
study of underground rivers for his contribution of the Aeneid
(19 BC), a tale written in praise of the Roman state.
Unlike the encyclopedic works we've cataloged above, the
Aeneid is but a story. But in with the encyclopedic works, it's
not particularly original. In fact, it's but a re-spin of... -- well,
take a guess.
The Aeneid begins with Aeneas' escape during the Trojan War
and follows his descent into an underworld of river familiar to
us. And whom do we meet? Charon, the curmudgeonly
ferryman!
That will be two obols, sir.
The Aeneid parallels the Odyssey in structure, Romanizes the characters and expands upon the
incidents, but it's Homer's saga. Here's Virgil's Charon in verse.
There Charon stands, who rules the dreary coast --
A sordid god, down from his hairy chin
A length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean;
His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire;
A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire.
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