Charon (Ferryman)
godFerryman of the dead who transported souls across the river Styx in exchange for a coin placed under the tongue of the deceased.
The Myth
He refused to take anyone who could not pay — and the coinless dead wandered the riverbank for a hundred years. Charon was an ancient, filthy boatman who rowed the dead across the Styx (or Acheron) to the Underworld proper. Greek burial practice required placing an obol (small coin) in the mouth of the dead to pay the fare. Those without coins were stranded on the near bank for a century. Charon refused the living — only Heracles (by intimidation), Orpheus (by music), Aeneas (by showing the golden bough), and Psyche (by offering a honey cake) got past him alive. Aristophanes gives him a comic turn in The Frogs, where Dionysus must row himself across while Charon sits idle.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The practice of burying the dead with a coin for Charon persisted into Christian-era Greece.
Explore Further
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