There Charon stands, who rules the dreary coast –
A sordid god: down from his hairy chin
A length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean;
His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire;
A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire
Virgil, Aeneid , Book VI, 1rst century BC
Description : In Greek Mythology ,
Charon is a psychopomp ,the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased who have received the rites of burial , across the River
Styx that divide the world of the living from the world of the Dead .
A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an
Obolus is placed in or on the mouth of a dead person . Beware ! for those who cannot afford the fee or those whose body was left unburied ,had to wander the shores for one hundred years as a deserter's penalty !
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