Instead, the most important thing to ensure Charon would take a soul across the Acheron was a proper burial. The idea of Charon taking payment for the journey was introduced late in antiquity and was never as widespread as some modern literature portrays it. In truth, however, this practice was not widespread in ancient Greece. A person would be buried with a coin, most often in their mouths but occasionally over their eyes, to pay Charon for his service. One of the most enduring legends of Charon was that a coin was needed to pay the ferryman for the journey. In some accounts, even Hermes and Persephone rode in his ferry during their trips in and out of the realm of Hades. He ferried Odysseus, Heracles, Orpheus, Psyche, and others across the river. In literature, Charon appears in most scenes in which a hero enters the realm of the dead. He took on many of this god’s attributes including graying skin, tusks, a hooked nose, and a heavy mallet in his hands. The Etruscans associated him with one of their own chthonic gods. In Rome, Charon appeared to be an even less welcoming figure. Entrances to the realm of the dead were sometimes said to be marked by foul odors and noxious vapor. This may be due, in part, to the conditions associated with the Underworld. In contrast with the more noble Olympians, he appeared to be unattractive and unclean.
While later Greek art made some attempts at making the ferryman a more welcoming figure, the prevailing image of Charon was as an unrefined character. He has a rough, unkempt appearance including a long, thick beard. These images often show Charon in the guise of a human boatman. Funerary vases often show scenes of the dead stepping onto Charon’s boat as their last action in the mortal realm. The only way to safely do so was on Charon’s ferry.īecause of his role in transporting souls to the afterlife, Charon was depicted often in ancient Greek art. To cross into the realm of Hades, the souls had to go across the River Acheron.
Sometimes accompanied by Hermes, he took the souls of the dead into the Underworld. Like the other children of Erebus, his mother was the primordial night goddess Nyx.Ĭharon served as a psychopomp, or a guide to the dead. He was the ferryman who took the souls of the dead into the realm of Hades.Ĭharon was usually said to be a son of Erebus, the primordial god of darkness. One of the most well-known gods of the Greek Underworld in modern culture is Charon. So where did the beliefs about Charon come from? The ferryman of Greek mythology may have several different sources. The parallels between the ferryman of Hades and psychopomps of other cultures were too obvious to ignore. Nor was Charon unique to ancient Greek culture.Įven in the 1st century BC, historians proposed that Charon was not an exclusively Greek character. The idea of putting a coin in a dead man’s mouth to pay Charon was not, however, a widespread tradition in Greece. As the link between the world of the living and the realm of Hades, he featured heavily in Greek art and literature throughout history. In ancient Greece, that ferryman was Charon. This is to pay the ferryman who escorts the soul into the land of the dead. In some parts of the world today, it is still customary to be buried with a coin.
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