CHARON
in Greek mythology, the aged ferryman in Hades who for an obolus conveyed the shades of the dead across the rivers of the lower world. As a fee for Charon the Greeks used to put a coin into the mouth of the dead. He is first mentioned in the Minyad and by Aeschylus . . . In art he is first seen on a terra-cotta of the sixth century B.C. He was painted by Polygnotus in Delphi and is often shown on white-ground lecythi.
George M. A. Hanfmann, Charon in The Oxford Classical Dictionary ed. N.G.L Hammond and H.H.Scullard 2nd ed. Oxford, 1970
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Descendant of:
WATER MOVEMENTTexts with this theme:
- Sehnsucht (Ach, aus dieses Tales Gründen), D 52, D 636 (Friedrich von Schiller)
- Lied (Ins stille Land), D403 (Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis)
- Fahrt zum Hades, D 526 (Johann Baptist Mayrhofer)