Also called The Ferryman.
Their story
Charon is the grim old ferryman who takes the dead across the marsh of Acheron to the realm of Hades. He appears in the lost epic Minyas and in Polygnotus's painting of the underworld at Delphi. In Aristophanes's Frogs he makes Dionysus row himself across. Greeks sometimes placed a small coin, the obol, with the dead to pay his fare.
Best times to give to them
- At funerals
- When remembering the dead
- At the Anthesteria, when the dead were honoured
What they like being given
- A coin, set aside for the dead
- A candle
- Fresh water
How to honour them
- Set a coin on the altar for a loved one who has died, recalling the ancient custom.
- Reflect on thresholds you have crossed and those still ahead.
How they can help you
- Grief
- Facing death calmly
- Transitions
Symbols
- boat
- pole
- coin (obol)
- the river Acheron
He lives on in modern Greek folklore as Charos, a far more powerful figure of death.
Sources
- Aristophanes, Frogs 180-270
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.28.1-2
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.295-330