Kharon

File:N11.2Kharon.jpg

Classical Period Attic Red Figure on Lekythos. Detail of Kharon figure. In the full vase Hermes psychopompos (guide of the dead) leads the shade of a youth to the skiff of Kharon. The ferryman stands leaning on his pole.

Kharon (Χαρων) was the ferryman of the dead. When someone would die, their relatives would place two coins on the eyes of the recently deceased to pay Kharon to ferry the dead across the Akheron River.

Parents

Erebos & Nyx

Ancient Text

"Now when the dead have come to the place where each is led by his genius (daimon) [i.e. by Plato's equivalent of Hermes, Guide of the Dead], first they are judged and sentenced [i.e. by the Judges of the Dead], as they have lived well and piously, or not. And those who are found to have lived neither well nor ill, go to the Akheron and, embarking upon vessels provided for them [i.e. the equivalent of Kharon's skiff], arrive in them at the lake; there they dwell and are purified [i.e. by the equivalent of the Erinyes], and if they have done any wrong they are absolved by paying the penalty for their wrong doings, and for their good deeds they receive rewards, each according to his merits."
- Plato, Phaedo 112e (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :

Gallery

Img kharon.jpg

Red Figure Attic Vase Detail of Kharon figure. Kharon drives his skiff with a pole. Painted on a white-ground funerary vase.

N11 3Kharon.jpg

Classical Period Attic Red Figure (White Ground) on Lekythos Vase Detail of Kharon and Hermes figures. In the full vase Hermes psychopompos (guide of the dead) leads the shade of youth to the skiff of Kharon. The ferryman stands leaning on his pole.

N11 4Kharon.jpg

Attic Red Figure on Lekythos Vase (500 - 450 BC) Detail of Kharon figure. In the full vase Kharon prepares to receive the shade of a youth into his skiff. The ferryman leans on his pole and is surrounded by the reeds of the river Akheron.

Kharon ferrying sould across the Akheron River

Psykhe paying Kharon for a ride

Psykhe in Kharon's Boat