Charon's Obol

By Crusader1307

There is much confusion with the Funerary Belief known generally as ''The Placing of The Coins''. The term's much older name ''Charon's Obol'', relates to an Ancient Greek Coin used in Burial Customs, which was placed onto the eyes of a deceased person. This was seen as a form of ''Spiritual Fare'', paid to The ''Ferryman'' or Charon. He was a Spirit-Entity tasked with providing transit across The River of The Dead – or Styx. The River, as we have seen – separated the Realms of The ''Living and The Dead''. A Fare was ''sent'' with The Soul to pay for that ''ride''. As seen., a lack of payment meant being condemned to an Eternity of wandering (even haunting). Since the 19th Century AD, the common belief was that The Ancient Greek and Romans, has a practice of pacing two coins on the eyes. In reality, only a single coin was placed into the mouth of the corpse. Many Cultures practiced a form of the Rite. It is thought by some that many Middle Eastern Cultures used a form of ''Gold Foil'' to cover the face (in part), as a form of Funerary Shroud (for The Wealthy and well noted). This may have led to the ''covering of the eyes'' in relation to The Obol Mythos.. Sometimes, a specially minted Funerary Coin was used. These featured images of ''sacred animals'' or Mythical Gods and Goddesses were engraved. These could be either Silver or Gold struck.