Abstract
The Hesiodic Theogony makes Horkos, 'Oath', the son of Eris, 'Struggle', and calls him 'the scourge of the humans of the earth'. But the oath is not just a power at work in human society: it also appears in that of the gods. This time, it takes the form of the goddess of Styx, whose place in the vast group of Oceanines - the thousands of daughters of Okéanos and Téthys, the couple who also begat the Rivers - is analyzed. Of aquatic descent, Styx is an icy, subterranean water that forms a tenth of her father's waters, making her the most important of the Oceanines. She also surpasses them by virtue of the honors Zeus bestows on her when she stands by his side in preparation for the Titanomachy. The rallying of Styx and her four children - Zèlos, 'Zeal/Empressement', Nikè, 'Victory', Kratos, 'Power', Biè, 'Strength' - is indispensable to the god's victory and creates the conditions for it: the skills of Kratos and Biè are essential, but the fact that Zèlos and Nikè are closely paired means that strength alone cannot prevail: the zēlos, the 'eagerness' of all the gods to respond to Zeus' call is based on his promise to give each the honors due to him, and the negotiation that underpins it. As for Styx, she is placed as the keystone of Zeus' power, since she will henceforth be 'the great oath of the gods', uprooting conflicts, dissensions and lies as soon as they arise among the gods. Two oaths by Styx in chants XIV and XV of theIliad close this lesson.
