I was watching a movie and saw them do it. I had heard an answer once and just wanted to know if i remembered it correctly. i had heard that it was a tole for the people who came and collected your soul to take you to the other side...
2006-07-12 16:56:20 · 26 answers · asked by vanessa_ann2569 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I've heard 2 different options:
1. Ancient Grecian burial custom required that a coin be placed in the mouth of the deceased to be used to pay Charon, the underworld ferryman, for passage across the river Styx.
2. When someone died with his eyes opened and the eyelids were closed by an attendant, they would frequently pop open again. Coins were placed on the eyelids to gently keep them closed. This custom was not perculiar to the Greeks.
2006-07-12 17:01:14 · answer #1 · answered by kls212 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you are correct. It's to pay the toll to the ferryman to take you across the river Styx to the underworld. Seafarers did (still do) something similar by putting a coin under the mast of a ship in case the ship sinks and all hands are drowned.
2006-07-12 17:02:39 · answer #2 · answered by Jack Meoff 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not true on the eye movement thing.
It comes from the ancient greeks who believed that you needed to cross the river styx to get to hades (afterlife, good) To do this you had to pay the boatman two coins as a toll. Otherwise you were stuck forever (bad).
2006-07-12 17:03:24 · answer #3 · answered by Paul L 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If a person was in comma -appeared dead - the coins were placed on the eyes to detect "eye movement". Nothing more but a lot of old fables surround that - but it was a kind of life detector as it were.
If the person was alive - the eyes may move - the coins would wobble noticibly or even fall off.
2006-07-12 17:00:16 · answer #4 · answered by Victor ious 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think that there are a couple of reasons. First, the coins are supposed to weight down the eyelids to keep them from opening (I don't know about the truth of this, but its a rumor). Secondly, it shows the dead you cared about them (burrying them with money), and thirdly, it can be used to pay crossing on the ferry into dead, or whatever.
2006-07-12 17:02:21 · answer #5 · answered by magicwriter65 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Traditionally, it was to pay the ferryman on the river Styx. Styx was the border between the land of the living and dead, so if a deceased person could not pay the ferryman, he would not be able to proceed into the afterlife.
2006-07-12 17:00:56 · answer #6 · answered by Ian M 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is a Greek tradition. When you cross the river Styx into the underworld, Charon, the ferryman, must be paid. The coins will help you do that.
2006-07-12 17:02:06 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
To show that many a time we have coins in our eyes and in our head, but in the final moment we can not see them, even though they are right on the eyelids.
I do not believe that is the basis for putting the coin on the eyes. I am not sure who does that in what religion or what reason. I thought it was an interesting observation on your part to ask that question.
2006-07-12 17:01:11 · answer #8 · answered by NQV 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It was used only to keep the eyelids shut, to keep the person from "staring" through the funeral, etc., and keep dirt out of the eyes during the rite of getting them ready for burial. Any other connotation put on it is purely speculation.
2006-07-12 17:01:28 · answer #9 · answered by save_up_your_tears 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it came from the Romans in which they would put coins over their eyes to pay the river boat man to carry them over to the after life. If they didn't he wouldn't take their soul to its finial resting place
2006-07-12 17:03:35 · answer #10 · answered by Sparkle 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋