The myth of Charon speaks of one of the most enigmatic characters in Greek mythology, he was the boatman of the underworld and his mission was to transport the souls of those who had recently died in hades, where they would live for eternity.
This character is described as a ragged and carefree old man with an enrated white beard, his face was stiff, dirty and dark. Caronte’s myth says he moved his boat with a stick, waxed the sails and his boat was still rusty and in ruins.
- Caronte made his tour of the Aqueronte River.
- Which means “river of pain”.
- His work was endless and routine.
- So his appearance was dark.
- The only thing that took him out of his infinite routine were the exceptional situations in which a person lived.
- I wanted to enter the underworld.
- As happened with Hercules and Orpheus.
- Otherwise.
- His activity was an eternal repetition.
“You will not find the limbs of the soul, even to the end, such is its depth?. – Su-clito-
The myth of Charon says that the boatman of the underworld was the son of Nix and Erebus and that he was born in such an ancient time that there was no memory of him. Nix was the goddess of the night and was endowed with such beauty that even Zeus himself feared her, was the daughter of Chaos and was present in the very creation of the universe.
Erebus, in turn, was the god of darkness and shadows, reigned over the deep mists surrounding the ends of the Earth and was present in all underground places, was Nix’s brother, and with him conceived two sons: Ether, brightness. and glare, and Hemera, the day.
According to the myth of Charon, Nix managed to conceive other children on his own, without the intervention of his brother and husband, Ebo. Thus he had the boatman’s brothers, who were: Moors, Destiny; Ker, shame; Thanatos, death; Hypnos, the dream; Geras, old age; Ezis, pain; Apate, disappointment; Nemesis, punishment; Eris, discord; Philotes, Tenderness; Momo, sarcasm; Hesperides, afternoon girls; Oniros, dreams; The Keres, the spirits of destruction and death; and Moiras or Parcas, Fatality.
The myth of Charant says that the name of this character literally means “luminosity”. They say that people, barely a second before they die, show a particular glow in their eyes. This fact refers to the name of the boatman, who was also translated as “the wild-looking one?”or “the fiery-looking one. “
It is said that those who called him to do his duty were the Moiras, his sisters, who invoked him furiously when someone was about to die, that’s when Caronte came to shore, where he waited for the souls of the recently deceased, but not everyone could cross the river of pain, nor Aqueronte, with him. Souls had to pay for the ticket with a coin.
That’s why the Greeks buried their dead with a coin under their tongue: it was the payment they were supposed to give to the boatman to transport them to Hades. If the dead did not carry this coin, or if they had been buried unnecessarily, they had to roam around the river for a hundred years. After this time, Caronte allowed them to cross without paying.
The myth of Charant says that only two figures made the journey to Hades without dying in the attempt. One of them was Hercules, whom Caronte transported to hell without knowing why and without asking for any payment. That’s why the gods punished him and he had to spend a year in prison.
The other mortal who managed to cross was Orpheus, who managed to enchant him with the magic of his music and dominated the boatman’s will. Charon also allowed the goddess Psyche, who represented the soul, to do so by the tricks that this deity used to confuse him.
Although Caronte was located on the Aqueronte River, he was also allowed to navigate other rivers of the underworld, such as Cocito, the Lamentation River; Flegeton, the river of fire; Lete, the river of oblivion; and Styx, the river of hate.