Eridănus
(
Ἠρίδανος). A river-god, on the banks of whose river
amber was found (Hesiod,
Theog. 338). In later times the Eridanus was supposed
to be the same as the Padus (Po), because amber was found at its mouth. Hence the Electrides
Insulae, or “Amber Islands,” are placed at the mouth of the Po, and here
Phaëthon was supposed to have fallen when struck by the lightning of Zeus.