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Charon was the ferryman of Hades. He took the newly
dead from one side of the river Acheron to the other if they had an obolus
(coin) to pay for the ride. Corpses in ancient Greece were always buried with
a coin underneath their tongue to pay Charon. Those who could not pay had to
wander the banks of the Acheron for one hundred years.
He was depicted as a cranky, skinny old man or a winged demon with a double
hammer.
It is often said that he ferried souls across the river Styx. This is
suggested by Virgil in his Aeneid. However, by most accounts, the river was
Acheron.
Source:
Wikipedia.org
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