What does it mean to be buried with 2 pennies face down on your eyes?

Question

I have s friend who insist that i make sure that when he dies he wants to be buried with 2 pennies over his eyes face down . But wont tell me why. He says that if he tells me that i will be pissed at him ... I really want to know the meaning , as my friend is depressed and has talked of suiside.

Answer 1

The tradition was to pay the boatman going down the river Styx (basically, it paid your way into the afterlife)

Answer 2

Usually it is a tradition relating to paying the ferryman of the river you cross into the afterlife.

Incidentally, according to Greek tradition, Charon is the ferryman of the river Acheron. Phlegyas is the ferryman of the Styx, according to the Aeneid. The other well-known river is the Cocytus.

I admit, though, I don't know why the pennies must specifically be face down, other than a personal preference.
If you ask your friend again, and he says you will be pissed if he explains, ask him "Why do you say that?" and maybe you will still get some helpful information out of him regarding some of this.

Answer 3

It is said that the coins should be silver - but culturally people chose whatever they could (as silver was expensive). The coins could actually be placed on the eyes, in the hands, or in the mouth of the deceased. According to Homer, The coins were to pay the ferryman, Charon, for safe passage across the river Styx to get into the underworld of Hades. If you didn't have the proper amount to pay him, then you would be stuck on the opposite side of the river in a sort of pergatory until some lesser god took pity on you.
BUT - the death of the individual was also important, as warriors went to Elysium (a grassland-like heaven). Plato said that most people lead a neutral life then must sail to the Acherusian Lake in order to be cleansed of your former life.

Answer 4

Tell somebody that your friend is suicidal. Please. If he's making plans for his death and asking others to help with them, then it has reached the point where it is pretty damned serious and he is very likely to try something soon.

Now, the whole coins over the eyes thing is an old Greco-Roman tradition, so that the soul of the departed can pay the ferryman to take him to the afterlife. I have no idea whether or not this is why your friend wants this done, though.

Answer 5

Three questions.
If your friend is suicidal then get the person help fast.
There are two reasons for the pennies on the eyes.
one is to keep them closed after you or some else closes them most people find it unnerving to watch a dead person with its eyes open .
The other is to pay the ferryman(Death) to pole them over to the other side of the river Styx ( if they believe in the Greek/roman idea of what happens after death.).

Answer 6

In Greek culture and mythology, the coins will serve as dead people's payment to Charon, the ferryman who will cross them over the River Styx (the underworld, Hades). If you didn't have the payment, you couldn't pass on to the afterlife.

However, some researchers have identified images of lepta (low value coins), minted by Pontius Pilate for use by the Jewish population in Palestine, over both eyes of the Shroud of Turin's face 9the linen containing Jesu's face). Francis Filas, S.J., of Loyola University in Chicago, an expert in classical coins, examined the area over the right eye and detected patterns of what appeared to be the letters UCAI (from the middle of TIBERIOU CAISARUS). They also found a lituus design (an auger's staff). Filas concluded that this was a lituus lepton coin minted by Pontius Pilate between 29 and 32 CE. Over the left eye, Filas also identified what he believed to be a Juolia lepton with a distinctive sheaf of barley design. The Juolia lepton was only struck in 29 CE in honor of Tiberius Caesar's wife, Julia.

We can just hope that your friend will change his mind. It is so bad being laid in a coffin, it is also quite odd seeing him die with a coin on both eyes and face down. Amazing!

Answer 7

Coins on the eyes are so you can pay Charon, the ferryman, to transport you across the river Sytx into Hades

Answer 8

it is the toll for the ferryman on the river Styx in greco-roman mythology, some modern religions still do it out of tradition. and in the 1999 movie "The Boondock Saints" the main characters are a pair of Irish Vigilante brothers who do it to their victims. chances are if he owns that movie that is where he got the idea from, Hot Topic stores are huge source of schwag from the movie.
check w/ his parental unit to let them know of the suicide thing

Answer 9

that was beleived the toll you needed to pay to the 'man' who takes you on the boat to the other side....you know; you're dead.....there was this song about paying the toll....I forget the name of the group; but the video had a guy who just died and was paying the toll to ride the boat to the other side.
Anyone remember that song/group?

Answer 10

To pay the boatman to take you over the river styx. But really it was to keep your lids shut and avoid creeping out the mourners.