Erĭdănus

, one of the largest rivers of Italy, rising in the Alps, and falling into the Adriatic by several mouths; now called the Po . It was in its neighbourhood that the Heliades, the sisters of Phaeton, were changed into poplars, according to Ovid. Virgil calls it the king of all rivers, and Lucan compares it to the Rhine and Danube. An Eridanus is mentioned in heaven. Cicero , Aratus , li. 145 .— Claudian , Panegyric us de Consulatu Honorii August i , bk. 6 , li. 175 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 2 , fable 3.— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 3 .— Strabo , bk. 5 .— Lucan , bk. 2 , li. 409 .— Virgil , Georgics , bk. 1 , li. 482 ; Æneid , bk. 6 , li. 659 .