Charon
godCharon was the grim ferryman who carried the souls of the dead across the river Styx into the underworld — but only if they had been properly buried with a coin for his fare.
The Myth
Charon stood at his ferry, a gaunt, unkempt old man with fiery eyes. He would only carry those who had received proper burial rites and placed an obol (small coin) in their mouth or on their eyes. The unburied were condemned to wander the bank for a hundred years. He transported them across the Styx (or Acheron) to the far shore where Cerberus waited. Few living mortals ever persuaded him to make an exception: Heracles bullied him, the Sibyl drugged Cerberus for Aeneas, and Orpheus charmed him with music.
Parents
Erebus and Nyx
Symbols
Fun Fact
Greeks placed coins in the mouths of their dead for over a thousand years — archaeologists still find them in graves.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
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Erebus
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