What do you pay the ferryman with?

According to Greek mythology, to be properly buried, a coin called an obol needed to be placed under your tongue. This would then be presented to Charon (the ferryman of the River Styx), as payment for the crossing of the river. The entrance to Hades, the underworld, was on the other side of the river.

Who Pays the Ferryman myth?

Charon
The title of the series refers to the ancient religious belief and mythology of Charon the ferryman to Hades. In ancient times, it was the custom to place coins in or on the mouth of the deceased before cremation so that the deceased could pay the ferryman to go to Hades.

What do you pay the River of Styx?

In ancient times some believed that a coin (Charon’s obol) placed in the mouth of a dead person would pay the toll for the ferry across the river to the entrance of the Underworld. It was said that if someone could not pay the fee, they would never be able to cross the river.

What happens to those who can’t pay Charon?

Those who could not pay Charon’s fee or were buried without a coin were said to have wandered the banks of Acheron for a hundred years, haunting it as ghosts. Hermes would escort newly deceased souls to the River Acheron where Charon would wait for them on the banks.

What happens if you don’t pay Hades ferryman?

Those who had not received proper burial were unable to pay the fee and were left to wander the earthly side of the Akheron (Acheron), haunting the world as ghosts. Kharon was depicted in ancient Greek art as an ugly, bearded man with a crooked nose, wearing a conical hat and tunic.

How much is Charon’s fee?

Instead, he’s an underworld deity under the services of king Hades. Those who passed away would have to cross the rivers Styx and Acheron to reach the underworld, and Charon would take them on this journey. His fee for carrying the dead across the rivers to the underworld was a single coin, usually an obolus or danake.

How is Charon paid?

A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person. Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred years, until they were allowed to cross the river.