Ancient mythology is a separate piece of literature that fascinates the reader with its rich world and beautiful language. In addition to the most interesting stories and stories about heroes, it displays the foundations of the universe, indicates the place of man in it, as well as its dependence on the will of the gods. Deities, in turn, were often similar to people with their passions, desires and vices. Charon occupied a special place - mythology predetermined him the place of a carrier between the world of the living and the dead.
What did the world look like?
We will examine in more detail who Charon was and what he looked like. The mythology of the ancient world clearly indicates that in fact there are three lights at once: underground, aboveground and underwater. Although the underwater can be safely attributed to the terrestrial world. So, these three kingdoms were ruled by three brothers, equal in strength and importance: Zeus, Poseidon and Hades among the Greeks (Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto among the Romans). But still, Zeus the Thunderer was considered the main one, however he did not meddle in the affairs of his brothers.
People inhabited the world of the living - the kingdom of Zeus, but after the death of their bodies they surrendered to the grave, and the soul went to the abode of Hades. And the first person, so to speak, whom the soul met on the way to hell, was Charon. Mythology considers him both a carrier, a guard, and a tax inspector. Probably because he vigilantly watched so that no living people got into his boat, souls did not come back, and for his work he took a certain fee.
Ancient Mythology: Charon
The son of Erebus and Nikta, Darkness and Night, a carrier from the underworld had a boat warped by worms. It is generally accepted that he transported souls across the Styx River, but, according to another version, he sailed along the Acheron River. Most often, he was described by an old man very gloomy, dressed in rags.
Dante Alighieri, creator of The Divine Comedy, placed Charon in the first round of hell. Probably it was here that the underground river carried its waters, which divided the world of the living and the dead. Virgil acted as a conductor of Dante and ordered the carrier to take the poet alive to his boat. What appeared before him, what did Charon look like? Roman mythology does not contradict Hellenic: the old man had a terrifying appearance. His braids were disheveled, tangled and gray, his eyes burned with fierce fire.
There is one more nuance that mythology mentions: Charon transported the souls of the dead in only one direction and only those people who were buried in graves with the performance of all rites. And one of the prerequisites was to provide the deceased with a coin, which he could pay with the carrier. Obol was put under the tongue of the dead, and it is likely that without money it was impossible to go to ancient hell.
Charon and the living people
Now the reader knows what Charon (mythology) looked like. There is no photo, of course, but many artists depicted on their canvases a gloomy old god from the underworld. As you know, the carrier planted dead souls in his boat without problems, taking a fee. If you came across souls that had no obol, then they had to wait a hundred years to get to that shore for free.
However, there were living people who, of their own free will or by someone else, went to Hades earlier than their time. Virgil’s Aeneid says that only a branch from a golden tree growing in Persephone’s grove (Hades’s wife) could serve as a pass for them. It was she who used Aeneas at the prompt of Sibyl.
Orpheus forced himself to transport himself to the other side with a trick: no one from the world of the living and the dead, neither the gods nor the mortals could resist the sounds of his golden cithara. Hercules, performing one of his exploits, also came to Hades. But the god Hermes helped him - he ordered the dead to be delivered to the ruler of the world. According to another version, the hero forced Charon to transport him, for which the carrier was then punished by Pluto.
