What are the rivers of hell and their ferrymen in Dante's Inferno?

The river and
ferryman of Dante's Inferno are based on Greek myth rather than on
Christian concepts of the afterlife, a reflection of Dante's work during the Italian
Renaissance, when themes from ancient history became revived.

The river Dante
crosses is called the Acheron, one of the five rivers of the ancient Greek underworld; while the
Acheron is a real river in northwestern Greece, here it is symbolic, afor crossing over into
Hell itself.

The ferryman who takes both Dante and his guide, the shade of
the Roman poet Virgil, is named Charon. Charon is responsible for ferrying the dead from the
living world across the rivers and into Hades. In ancient Greek mythology, this was not seen as
a punishment in the same sense of crossing into the Christian hell, but rather an obligation of
the dead, who could not stay in the world of the living. In ancient Greek custom, people would
be buried with symbolic coins meant to pay the ferryman. At first, Charon refuses to take Dante,
since he is not dead, but Virgil insists that they be allowed to pass.