So I finally watched Troy recently and when the sons of Kings died and anyone important died, they place two golden coin on the eyes. What's the significant of it and what does it mean and what are they for?
signed
-curious
2007-02-21 05:21:04 · 11 answers · asked by sunsetconmartini 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
Charon, in Greek mythology, is the ferryman of the dead. The souls of the deceased are brought to him by Hermes, and Charon ferries them across the river Acheron. He only accepts the dead which are buried or burned with the proper rites, and if they pay him an obolus (coin) for their passage. For that reason a corpse had always an obolus placed under the tongue! However, some authors claim the price to be 2 coins, placed over each eye of the deceased. Those who cannot afford the passage, or are not admitted by Charon, are doomed to wander on the banks of the Styx for a hundred years. Living persons who wish to go to the underworld need a golden bough obtained from the Cumaean Sibyl. Charon is the son of Erebus and Nyx. He is depicted as an sulky old man, or as a winged demon carrying a double hammer
2007-02-21 05:33:18 · answer #1 · answered by mphermes 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The legend is that if you place coins on the eyes of the deceased, they will safely pass to the underworld. The coins represent the toll that has to be paid in order to ride on Charon's boat on the River Styx.
2007-02-21 17:19:47 · answer #2 · answered by 3lixir 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This was a real fact. It did not apply only to important people. It was a ritual for the dead. The reason is that the greeks believed that Death was a boatman. When the souls of the dead arrived in the underworld they were infront of a big river. Then death would appear with his boat. The coins was a form of payment to Death for his services, that is to carry them in the Hylisian fields.(paradise in greek mythology)Anyone with no coins, he was left to wonder alone in the underworld.
2007-02-24 18:43:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Charon, the ferryman who carried souls across the river Styx to Hades, had a toll for his services and it was two coins equal to a mere .02 cent. If the person being buried didn't have the coins in his eyes then they would not be able to get to the afterlife and would forever remain in limbo (purgatory).
2007-02-21 13:32:26 · answer #4 · answered by zhadowlord 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The coins are to pay Charon, the ferryman who takes the dead (for a price, hence the coins) across the river Styx so they can enter the underworld.
2007-02-21 13:30:30 · answer #5 · answered by pinduck85 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was used to pay the ferryman Charon to help the dead cross the river Styx in order to enter the underworld. Without this fee you would be refused passage and doomed to walk in along the shores of the river in a state of limbo. I have heard of placing a pearl in the mouth of either the Japanese of Chinese deceased to aid in there travel to the other world.(Though I am not sure of the full details of this.)
2007-02-21 18:01:34 · answer #6 · answered by sherylwhitewolf2003 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The coins were used to pay the ferryman, Charon, so that he would take you across the River Styx in the underworld.
2007-02-21 14:01:34 · answer #7 · answered by maryanndertal 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is to pay the boatman on the River Styx.
The River Styx leads to Hades.
2007-02-21 13:29:38 · answer #8 · answered by nycguy10002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they put the coins over the eyes so charon, a greedy god who takes dead souls to the underworld, would take them across the river styx. without it they would have to wander aimlessly to find the entrance to the underworld.
2007-02-21 15:42:06 · answer #9 · answered by iamsooobored 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I was told they put the coins on the eyes to pay "the taker of the souls" to help that spirit find its way to heaven and to help it adjust to the change.
2007-02-21 13:29:08 · answer #10 · answered by znnyls2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋