Kharon

Kharon, also spelled Charón, is the mythological ferryman who transports the souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx (and, in some traditions, the Acheron) into the realm of Hades. The figure is a psychopomp, guiding souls to the afterlife rather than shaping their fate. The name Χάρων appears in Greek sources with various genealogies; common tradition makes him the son of Erebus and Nyx, though parentage varies across poets and inscriptions.

In practice, a burial rite was required for the soul to receive passage. The dead were often buried with an obol placed in their mouth as payment for Charon’s ferry; unburied or coinless dead were thought to be denied passage and left on the banks of the river.

Charon is typically depicted as a grim, bearded old man in a cloak, steering a small boat across a dark, foggy river. His ferry journey marks the boundary between life and the afterlife, a motif used by writers from Homer to Virgil. In later literature, Charon’s gatekeeping emphasizes the finality of death; Virgil’s Aeneid also features a ferry-figure transporting the hero to the underworld.

In modern times, Kharon remains a symbol of death’s passage and appears in literature, art, and popular culture under various spellings. See also Charon, Styx, and Acheron.