In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Charon or Kharon
(/ˈkɛərÉ'n,-É™n/; Greek Î§Î¬Ï Ï‰Î½) is a psychopomp, the ferryman
of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx
that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. 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. In the catabasis mytheme, heroes â€"
such as Aeneas, Dionysus, Heracles, Hermes, Odysseus, Orpheus,
Pirithous, Psyche, Theseus and Sisyphus â€" journey to the underworld
and return, still alive, conveyed by the boat of Charon.In Greek
mythology and Roman mythology, Charon or Kharon (/ˈkɛərÉ'n,-É™n/;
Greek Î§Î¬Ï Ï‰Î½) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades who carries
souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx that divided the
world of the living from the world of the dead. 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. In the catabasis mytheme, heroes â€" such as Aeneas,
Dionysus, Heracles, Hermes, Odysseus, Orpheus, Pirithous, Psyche,
Theseus and Sisyphus â€" journey to the underworld and return, still
alive, conveyed by the boat of Charon.Charon is the son of Nyx. He was
also the brother of, among many others, Thanatos and Hypnos.The name
Charon is most often explained as a proper noun from Ï‡Î¬Ï Ï‰Î½
(charon), a poetic form of Ï‡Î±Ï Ï‰Ï€ÏŒÏ‚ (charopós), "of keen gaze",
referring either to fierce, flashing, or feverish eyes, or to eyes of
a bluish-gray color. The word may be a euphemism for death. Flashing
eyes may indicate the anger or irascibility of Charon as he is often
characterized in literature, but the etymology is not certain. The
ancient historian Diodorus Siculus thought that the ferryman and his
name had been imported from Egypt. Charon Top Movies & Young Movies