Charon
Also known as: Kharon · Charon (mythology)
- 1Charon acts as the ferryman responsible for transporting souls across the underworld river.
- 2He only accepts passengers who have received proper funeral rites.
- 3The dead were often buried with coins known as obols to pay his passage fee.
- 4Those lacking payment or funeral rites were forced to wander the shores for one hundred years.
- 5He has historically ferried living mortals such as Heracles and Aeneas.
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of the Greek underworld.
Connections1
Ferryman of the dead
He is the psychopomp who transports the souls of the deceased across the rivers Styx or Acheron into the domain ruled by Hades.
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He transports the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the river that borders the underworld. Archaeology confirms that, in some burials, low-value coins known generically as Charon's obols were placed in, on, or near the mouth of the deceased, or next to the cremation urn containing the ashes. In Virgil's epic poem, Aeneid, the dead who could not pay the fee, and those who had received no funeral rites, had to wander the near shores of the Styx for one hundred years before they were allowed to cross the river. Charon also ferried the living mortals Heracles and Aeneas to the underworld and back again.
Attic red-figure lekythos attributed to the Tymbos painter showing Charon welcoming a soul into his boat, c. 500–450 BCWikimedia CommonsCharon and his boat on a funerary relief, ca 320s BC, KAMA.Wikimedia CommonsCharon with punt pole standing in his boat, receiving Hermes psychopompos who leads a deceased woman. Thanatos Painter, ca. 430 BCWikimedia CommonsCharon as depicted by Michelangelo in his fresco The Last Judgment in the Sistine ChapelWikimedia CommonsIn the Divine Comedy, Charon forces reluctant sinners onto his boat by beating them with his oar. ( Gustave Doré, 1857).Wikimedia Commons 122 words