Charon
In
Greek mythology,
Charon or
Kharon ( ; ) is a
psychopomp, the ferryman of the
Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers
Acheron and
Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and the dead. 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 their ashes. This has been taken to confirm that at least some aspects of Charon's
mytheme are reflected in some Greek and Roman funeral practices, or else the coins function as a
viaticum for the soul's journey. 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.
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