2 who is old man Charon. The meaning of the word charon in the directory of characters and cult objects of Greek mythology

He was portrayed as a gloomy old man in rags. Charon transports the dead along the waters of underground rivers, receiving payment for this (navlon) in one obol (according to funeral rites, located under the tongue of the dead). It transports only those dead whose bones have found peace in the grave. Only a golden branch, plucked from Persephone's grove, opens the way to the kingdom of death for a living person. Under no circumstances will it be transported back.

Etymology of the name

The name Charon is often explained as being derived from χάρων ( Charon), poetic form of the word χαρωπός ( charopos), which can be translated as “having a keen eye.” He is also referred to as having fierce, flashing or feverish eyes, or eyes of a bluish-gray color. The word can also be a euphemism for death. Blinking eyes may signify Charon's anger or temper, which is often mentioned in literature, but the etymology is not fully determined. The ancient historian Diodorus Siculus believed that the boatman and his name came from Egypt.

In art

In the first century BC, the Roman poet Virgil described Charon during Aeneas's descent into the underworld (Aeneid, Book 6), after the Sibyl of Cumae sent the hero to retrieve a golden branch that would allow him to return to the world of the living:

Gloomy and dirty Charon. A patchy gray beard
The whole face is overgrown - only the eyes burn motionless,
The cloak on the shoulders is tied in a knot and hangs ugly.
He propels the boat with a pole and steers the sails himself,
The dead are transported on a fragile boat through a dark stream.
God is already old, but he retains vigorous strength even in old age.

Original text(lat.)

Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat
terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento
canities inculta iacet; stant lumina flamma,
sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.
Ipse ratem conto subigit, velisque ministrat,
et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba,
iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus.

Other Roman authors also describe Charon, among them Seneca in his tragedy Hercules Furens, where Charon is described in lines 762-777 as an old man, dressed in dirty clothes, with drawn-in cheeks and an unkempt beard, a cruel ferryman, steering his ship with a long pole. When the ferryman stops Hercules from passing to the other side, the Greek hero proves his right of passage by force, defeating Charon with his own pole.

In the second century AD, in Lucian's Discourses in the Kingdom of the Dead, Charon appeared, mainly in parts 4 and 10 ( "Hermes and Charon" And "Charon and Hermes") .

Mentioned in the poem "Miniada" by Prodicus of Phocea. Depicted in the painting of Polygnotus at Delphi, the ferryman across the Acheron. The protagonist of Aristophanes' comedy "Frogs".

Underground geography

In most cases, including descriptions in Pausanias and, later, Dante, Charon is located near the Acheron River. Ancient Greek sources such as Pindar, Aeschylus, Euripides, Plato and Callimachus also place Charon on Acheron in their works. Roman poets, including Propertius, Publius and Statius, call the river Styx, perhaps following Virgil's description of the underworld in the Aeneid, where it was associated with both rivers.

In astronomy

Write a review on the article "Charon (mythology)"

Notes

Myths of the peoples of the world. M., 1991-92. In 2 volumes. T.2. P.584
Euripides. Alcestis 254; Virgil. Aeneid VI 298-304
Lyubker F. Real dictionary of classical antiquities. M., 2001. In 3 volumes. T.1. P.322
Liddell and Scott A Greek-English Lexicon(Oxford: Clarendon Press 1843, 1985 printing), entries on χαροπός and χάρων, pp. 1980-1981; Brill's New Pauly(Leiden and Boston 2003), vol. 3, entry on "Charon, " pp. 202-203.
Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, "Reading" Greek Death(Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 359 and p. 390
Grinsell, L. V. (1957). "The Ferryman and His Fee: A Study in Ethnology, Archaeology, and Tradition". Folklore 68 (1): 257–269 .
Virgil, Aeneid 6.298-301, translated into English by John Dryden, into Russian by Sergei Osherov (English lines 413-417.)
See Ronnie H. Terpening, Charon and the Crossing: Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Transformations of a Myth(Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1985 and London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1985), pp. 97-98.
For an analysis of these dialogues, see Terpening, pp. 107-116.)
For an analysis of Dante's description of Charon and his other appearances in literature from ancient times until the 17th century in Italy, see Turpenin, Ron, Charon and the Crossing.
Pausanias. Description of Hellas X 28, 2; Miniada, fr.1 Bernabe
Pausanias. Description of Hellas X 28, 1
See for collected source passages with work and line annotations, as well as images from vase paintings.

15. Oleg Igorin Two banks of Charon

Excerpt characterizing Charon (mythology)

I gradually came to my senses and felt more and more how my warrior spirit was returning to me. There was nothing to lose anyway... And no matter how hard I tried to be pleasant, Karaffa didn’t care. He longed for only one thing - to get answers to his questions. The rest didn't matter. Except, perhaps, for one thing - my complete submission to him... But he knew perfectly well that this would not happen. Therefore, I was not obliged to be polite or even tolerable with him. And to be honest, it gave me sincere pleasure...
– Aren’t you interested in what happened to your father, Isidora? You love him so much!
“Love!!!”... He didn’t say “loved”! So, for now, the father was still alive! I tried not to show my joy, and said as calmly as possible:
– What difference does it make, Holiness, you’ll kill him anyway! Whether it happens sooner or later does not matter...
– Oh, how wrong you are, dear Isidora!.. For everyone who ends up in the basements of the Inquisition, this is of very great importance! You can't even imagine how big...
Caraffa was already “Caraffa” again, that is, a sophisticated torturer who, in order to achieve his goal, was ready with great pleasure to observe the most brutal human torture, the most terrible pain of others...
And now, with the interest of a gambler, he tried to find at least some open gap in my pain-torn consciousness, and whether it was fear, anger or even love, it didn’t matter to him... He just wanted to strike, and which one my feelings will open the “door” for him to do this - this was already a secondary matter...
But I didn’t give in... Apparently, my famous “long-suffering” helped, which amused everyone around me since I was just a baby. My father once told me that I was the most patient child that he and my mother had ever seen, and that it was impossible to get angry with almost anything. When others were completely losing patience with something, I still said: “Nothing, everything will be fine, everything will work out, you just need to wait a little”... I believed in the positive even when no one else believed in it . But it was precisely this feature of mine that Karaffa, even with all his excellent knowledge, apparently still did not know. Therefore, he was infuriated by my incomprehensible calmness, which, in reality, was not calmness at all, but was only my inexhaustible patience. I just couldn’t allow that, while doing us such inhumane evil, he also enjoyed our deep, sincere pain.
Although, to be completely frank, I still couldn’t explain some of Caraffa’s behavior to myself...
On the one hand, he seemed to be sincerely admired by my unusual “talents”, as if it really had some meaning for him... And he was also always sincerely admired by my “famous” natural beauty, as evidenced by the admiration in his eyes every time we met. And at the same time, for some reason, Karaffa was very disappointed by any flaw, or even the slightest imperfection, which he accidentally discovered in me and was sincerely infuriated by any weakness of mine or even the slightest mistake of mine, which, from time to time, to me, like any person, happened to do... Sometimes it even seemed to me that I was reluctantly destroying some non-existent ideal that he had created for himself...
If I didn’t know him so well, I might even be inclined to believe that this incomprehensible and evil man loved me in his own and very strange way...
But, as soon as my exhausted brain came to such an absurd conclusion, I immediately reminded myself that we were talking about Caraffa! And he certainly didn’t have any pure or sincere feelings inside him!.. And even more so, such as Love. Rather, it was like the feeling of an owner who has found an expensive toy and wants to see in it, nothing more and nothing less than his ideal. And if the slightest flaw suddenly appeared in this toy, he was almost immediately ready to throw it straight into the fire...
– Does your soul know how to leave your body during life, Isidora? – Karaffa interrupted my sad thoughts with another unusual question.
- Well, of course, Your Holiness! This is the simplest thing that any Sage can do. Why does this interest you?
“Your father uses this to get away from pain...” Caraffa said thoughtfully. “Therefore, there is no point in torturing him with ordinary torture.” But I will find a way to get him to talk, even if it takes a lot longer than I thought. He knows a lot, Isidora. I think even much more than you can imagine. He didn't reveal even half of it to you!... Wouldn't you like to know the rest?!
“Why, Your Holiness?!..”, trying to hide my joy at what I heard, I said as calmly as possible. “If he didn’t reveal something, it means it wasn’t time for me to find out yet.” Premature knowledge is very dangerous, Your Holiness - it can either help or kill. So sometimes great care is needed to teach someone. I think you should have known this, you studied there for some time in Meteora?
- Nonsense!!! I am ready for anything! Oh, I’ve been ready for so long, Isidora! These fools simply don’t see that I just need Knowledge, and I can do much more than others! Maybe even more than themselves!..
Karaffa was terrible in his “DESIRE for what he wants,” and I realized that in order to gain this knowledge, he would sweep away ANY obstacles that came in his way... And whether it was me or my father, or even little Anna, but he will achieve what he wants, he will “knock” it out of us, no matter what, apparently, he achieved before everything that his insatiable brain was aimed at, including his current power and visit to Meteora, and, for sure, much, much more, oh which I preferred not to know, so as not to completely lose hope of victory over him. Caraffa was truly dangerous for humanity!.. His super-crazy “faith” in his “genius” exceeded any usual norms of the highest existing conceit and frightened him with his categoricalness when it came to his “desired”, about which he had not the slightest idea , but only knew that he wanted it...
To cool him down a little, I suddenly began to “melt” right in front of his “holy” gaze, and after a moment I completely disappeared... It was a child’s trick of the simplest “blow,” as we called instantaneous movement from one place to another (I think that’s what they called teleportation), but it was supposed to have a “refreshing” effect on Karaffa. And I was not mistaken... When I came back a minute later, his stunned face expressed complete confusion, which, I’m sure, very few people were able to see. Unable to bear this funny picture any longer, I laughed heartily.
“We know many tricks, Your Holiness, but they are just tricks.” KNOWLEDGE is completely different. This is a weapon, and it is very important in what hands it falls...
But Caraffa didn’t listen to me. He was like a little child shocked by what he had just seen, and immediately wanted to know it for himself!.. It was a new, unfamiliar toy that he had to have right now!!! Don't hesitate for a minute!
But, on the other hand, he was also a very smart person, and, despite the thirst to have something, he almost always knew how to think. Therefore, literally after a moment, his gaze gradually began to darken, and his widened black eyes stared at me with a silent, but very persistent question, and I saw with satisfaction that he finally began to understand the real meaning of my little one shown to him. "trick"...

CHARON

In Greek mythology, the carrier of the dead in Hades. He was portrayed as a gloomy old man in rags; Charon transports the dead along the waters of underground rivers, receiving payment for this in one obol (according to funeral rites, it is located under the tongue of the dead). He transports only those dead whose bones have found peace in the grave (Verg. Aen. VI 295-330). Hercules, Pirithous and Thesese and forcibly forced Charon to transport them to Hades (VI 385-397). Only a golden branch, plucked from Persephone’s grove, opens the way for a living person to the kingdom of death (VI 201 - 211). Showing Charon the golden branch, Sibylla forced him to transport Aeneas (VI 403-416).

Characters and cult objects of Greek mythology. 2012

Meaning of the word Charon

Charon in the crossword dictionary

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

Charon

m. An old carrier who transports the shadows of the dead to Hades through the underground rivers Styx and Acheron (in ancient mythology).

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

Charon

in Greek mythology, the carrier of the dead through the rivers of the underworld to the gates of Hades; To pay for transportation, a coin was placed in the deceased's mouth.

Mythological dictionary

Charon

(Greek) - the son of Erebus and Niktas, a carrier in the kingdom of the dead, ferrying the souls of the dead on a shuttle through the rivers of the underworld. It was believed that X. took payment for transportation, so a small coin (obol) was placed in the mouth of the deceased.

Charon

in ancient Greek mythology, the carrier of the dead through the rivers of the underworld to the gates of Hades. To pay for transportation, a coin was placed in the deceased's mouth.

Wikipedia

Charon (moon)

Charon(from; also (134340) Pluto I) - a satellite of Pluto discovered in 1978 (in another interpretation - a smaller component of a double planetary system). With the discovery in 2005 of two other moons - Hydra and Nikta - Charon began to also be called PlutoI. Named after the character of ancient Greek mythology Charon - the carrier of the souls of the dead across the River Styx. In July 2015, the American New Horizons probe reached Pluto and Charon for the first time in history and examined them from a flyby trajectory.

Charon

Charon:

Charon - in Greek mythology, the carrier of the souls of the dead across the River Styx to Hades.
Charon is Pluto's largest moon.
Charon of Lampsacus (5th century BC) - ancient Greek historiographer-logographer.

Charon is a browser for the Inferno operating system.
Charon is a Finnish gothic metal band.

Charon (mythology)

Charon in Greek mythology - the carrier of the souls of the dead across the River Styx (according to another version - through Acheron) to Hades. Son of Erebus and Nyukta.

He was portrayed as a gloomy old man in rags. Charon transports the dead along the waters of underground rivers, receiving for this payment (navlon) of one obol. It transports only those dead whose bones have found peace in the grave. Only a golden branch, plucked from Persephone's grove, opens the way to the kingdom of death for a living person. Under no circumstances will it be transported back.

Examples of the use of the word charon in literature.

This sport also had its own religious touch: the slaves, who pulled dead bodies from the arena with hooks, wore masks of the carrier of souls in the underworld, Charona.

It’s time, apparently, brothers, to move from the Cossack saddle to the canoe Charona.

Thousands of eyes turned to the large gate, which was approached by a man dressed Charon, and in general silence he hit them three times with a hammer, as if calling those who were behind them to death.

But then the prefect gave a sign: immediately the old man came out again, dressed Charon, the same one who challenged the gladiators to death, and, walking at a leisurely pace across the entire arena, amid the dead silence that reigned, he again struck the doors with a hammer three times.

After this, the unlucky follower Charona for some time he worked as a uniform worker at the Tsaritsyn circus, as a salesman at a beer stall, as a loader at a furniture store and as a packer in a sugar-packing shop. He rolled downhill until he found himself in a green cap and a blue Vokhrovtsian tunic at the entrance of the Tsaritsyn meat-packing plant.

Jacob Silvius, who had never reconciled with his rebellious student, forded the Styx in order to save the extra obol and not give it to the greedy Charon.

For a long time we did not believe that these tragic events were somehow connected with your city - perhaps Bourget’s relationship with the rest Charon not beneficial to both parties?

On Charone people also happily hunted and fished, and the inhabitants of Montlay and Bourget bought semi-finished meat products and were tormented by moral worries no more than the inhabitants of the jungle.

Judging by the clash in Bourges, you have nothing to fear - ordinary people Charona will ultimately prevail.

We have already mentioned a gloomy figure, which is necessary for the disincarnate entity to cross the Edge of the Worlds. Many peoples saw the Edge of the Worlds in the form of a river, often a fiery one (for example, the Slavic River-Smorodinka, the Greek Styx and Acheron, etc.). In this regard, it is clear that the creature that leads souls across this line was often perceived in the image boatman-carrier .
This river is River of Oblivion, and the passage through it means not only the movement of the soul from the world of the living to the world of the dead, but also the severance of any connection, memory, attachment to the Overworld. That is why it is the River of No Return, because there is no longer any motive to cross it. It is clear that the function Carrier, which carries out this severance of connections, is critically important for the process of disembodiment. Without its work, the soul will be drawn again and again to places and people dear to it, and, therefore, will turn into utukku- a wandering dead man.

Among the Etruscans, at first the role of Carrier was performed by Turmas(Greek Hermes, who retained this function of psychopomp - driver of souls in later mythology), and then - Haru (Harun), who, apparently, was perceived by the Greeks as Charon. The classical mythology of the Greeks shared the ideas of the Psychopomp (the “guide” of souls, responsible for the souls leaving the manifest world, the importance of which we have already discussed) and the Carrier, who performs the function of a guardian - the Gatekeeper. Hermes Psychopomp in classical mythology seated his charges in Charon's boat. It is interesting that Hermes the Psychopomp was often depicted in the image of Cynocephalus - the dog-headed one.

Elder Charon (Χάρων - “bright”, in the sense of “Sparkling with eyes”) - the most famous personification of the Carrier in classical mythology. For the first time, the name of Charon is mentioned in one of the poems of the epic cycle - the Miniad.
Charon transports the dead along the waters of underground rivers, receiving payment for this in one obol (according to funeral rites, it is located under the tongue of the dead). This custom was widespread among the Greeks not only in the Hellenic, but also in the Roman period of Greek history, was preserved in the Middle Ages and is even observed to this day. Charon transports only those dead whose bones found peace in the grave. In Virgil, Charon is an old man covered in dirt, with a scraggly gray beard, fiery eyes, and dirty clothes. Guarding the waters of the Acheron (or Styx) River, he uses a pole to transport shadows on a shuttle, and he takes some into the shuttle, and drives others away from the shore who did not receive burial. According to legend, Charon was chained for a year for transporting Hercules across Acheron. As a representative of the underworld, Charon later came to be considered the demon of death: in this meaning he passed, under the names Charos and Charontas, to the modern Greeks, who represent him either in the form of a black bird descending on his victim, or in the form of a horseman pursuing in the air crowd of the dead.

Northern mythology, although it does not focus on the river surrounding the worlds, nevertheless knows about it. On the bridge over this river ( Gjoll), for example, Hermod meets with the giantess Modgud, who allows him to go to Hel, and, apparently, Odin (Harbard) refuses to transport Thor through the same river. It is interesting that in the last episode the Great Ace himself takes on the function of the Carrier, which once again emphasizes the high status of this usually inconspicuous figure. In addition, the fact that Thor was on the opposite bank of the river indicates that, besides Harbard, there was another boatman, for whom such crossings were commonplace.

In the Middle Ages, the idea of the Transport of Souls found development and continuation. Procopius of Caesarea, a historian of the Gothic War (6th century), gives a story about how the souls of the dead travel by sea to the island of Brittia: “Fishermen, merchants and farmers live along the coast of the mainland. They are subjects of the Franks, but do not pay taxes, because from time immemorial they have had the heavy duty of transporting the souls of the dead. Transporters wait every night in their huts for a conventional knock on the door and the voices of invisible beings calling them to work. Then people immediately get out of bed, prompted by an unknown force, go down to the shore and find boats there, not their own, but strangers, completely ready to set off and empty. The carriers get into the boats, take the oars and see that, from the weight of numerous invisible passengers, the boats sit deep in the water, a finger from the side. An hour later they reach the opposite shore, and yet on their boats they would hardly have been able to cover this path in a whole day. Having reached the island, the boats unload and become so light that only the keel touches the water. The carriers do not see anyone on their way or on the shore, but they hear a voice that calls the name, rank and relationship of each person who arrives, and if it is a woman, then the rank of her husband.”

Christianity introduces to explain the moment of disincarnation under consideration the image of the Angel of Death, often known as Azrael (Hebrew: “God helped”). In Christianity, the angel of death is sometimes called the Archangel Gabriel. In any case, the need for a being is recognized to help overcome the threshold between life and death.

Thus, in addition to the Guide, who helps the soul pass the path from life to death, a figure is needed on this path to make this process irreversible. It is this function of the Carrier of Souls that makes him the darkest character in the process of disincarnation.

Charon - moon of Pluto

Charon (134340 I) (English Charon from the Greek Χάρων) is a satellite of Pluto discovered in 1978 (according to another version, it is a smaller component of the double planetary system Pluto-Charon). With the discovery in 2005 of two other moons - Hydra and Nikta - Charon also became known as Pluto I. Named in honor of Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead across the River Styx in ancient Greek mythology. The New Horizons mission is expected to reach Pluto and Charon in July 2015.

Charon should not be confused with Chiron, the centaur planetoid.

Pluto and Charon (picture).

Traditionally, Charon is considered a satellite of Pluto. However, there is an opinion that since the center of mass of the Pluto-Charon system is outside Pluto, Pluto and Charon should be considered as a double planetary system.

According to draft Resolution 5 of the XXVI General Assembly of the IAU (2006), Charon (along with Ceres and the object 2003 UB 313) was supposed to be given the status of a planet. The notes to the draft resolution indicated that in this case Pluto-Charon would be considered a double planet.

However, the final version of the resolution contained a different solution: the concept of a dwarf planet was introduced. Pluto, Ceres, and object 2003 UB 313 were assigned to this new class of objects. Charon was not included among the dwarf planets.

Characteristics

Charon is located 19,640 km from the center of Pluto; the orbit is inclined 55° to the ecliptic. Charon's diameter is 1212±16 km, mass - 1.9×10 21 kg, density - 1.72 g/cm³. One revolution of Charon takes 6.387 days (due to tidal braking, it coincides with the rotation period of Pluto), so Pluto and Charon constantly face each other with the same side.

The discovery of Charon allowed astronomers to accurately calculate Pluto's mass. Features of the orbits of the outer satellites show that Charon's mass is approximately 11.65% of Pluto's mass.

Charon is noticeably darker than Pluto. It appears that these objects differ significantly in composition. While Pluto is covered in nitrogen ice, Charon is covered in water ice and has a more neutral colored surface. It is currently believed that the Pluto-Charon system was formed as a result of the collision of independently formed Pluto and proto-Charon; modern Charon was formed from fragments thrown into orbit around Pluto; this could also form some Kuiper Belt objects.

Rivers Aida Styx and Acheron. - Carrier Charon. - God Hades (Pluto) and goddess Persephone (Proserpina). - Judges of the kingdom of Hades Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus. - Triple goddess Hecate. - Goddess Nemesis. - The Kingdom of the Dead by the ancient Greek artist Polygnotus. - Sisyphus' labor, Tantalus's torment, Ixion's wheel. - Barrel Danaid. - The myth of the Champs Elysees (Elysium).

Rivers Aida Styx and Acheron

According to the myths of ancient Greece, there were countries on the globe where eternal night reigned and the sun never rose over them. In such a country the ancient Greeks placed the entrance to Tartarus- the underground kingdom of the god Hades (Pluto), the kingdom of the dead in Greek mythology.

The kingdom of the god Hades was watered by two rivers: Acheron And Styx. The gods swore in the name of the River Styx, pronouncing oaths. Vows river Styx were considered inviolable and terrible.

The River Styx rolled its black waves through the silent valley and circled the kingdom of Hades nine times.

Carrier Charon

Acheron, a dirty and muddy river, was guarded by a ferryman Charon. The myths of ancient Greece describe Charon in this form: in dirty clothes, with an unkempt long white beard, Charon controls his boat with one oar, in which he carries the shadows of the dead, whose bodies are already buried on the ground; Those deprived of burial are mercilessly pushed away by Charon, and these shadows are condemned to wander forever, finding no peace (Virgil).

Ancient art so rarely depicted the ferryman Charon that the type of Charon became known only thanks to poets. But in the Middle Ages, the gloomy ferryman Charon appears on some monuments of art. Michelangelo placed Charon in his famous work "The Last Judgment", depicting Charon transporting sinners.

For transportation across the Acheron River, the carrier of souls had to be paid. This belief was so rooted among the ancient Greeks that they put a small Greek coin in the mouth of the dead. obol for payment to Charon. The ancient Greek writer Lucian mockingly notes: “It did not occur to people whether this coin was in use in the underworld of Hades, and they also did not realize that it would be better not to give this coin to the dead, because then Charon would not want to transport them, and they could return again to the living.”

As soon as the shadows of the dead were transported across Acheron, the dog Hades met them on the other side Cerberus(Kerberus), having three heads. The barking of Cerberus terrified the dead so much that it took away from them even any thought about the possibility of returning to where they came from.

God Hades (Pluto) and goddess Persephone (Proserpina)

Judges of the kingdom of Hades Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus

Then the shadows of the dead had to appear before the god Hades (Pluto), the king of Tartarus, and the goddess Persephone (Proserpine), the wife of Hades. But the god Hades (Pluto) did not judge the dead; this was performed by the judges of Tartarus: Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus. According to Plato, Aeacus judged Europeans, Rhadamanthus judged Asians (Radamanthus was always depicted in Asian costume), and Minos, by order of Zeus, was supposed to judge and decide dubious cases.

A perfectly preserved painting on one antique vase depicts the kingdom of Hades (Pluto). In the middle is the house of Hades. The god Hades himself, the lord of the underworld, sits on the throne, holding a scepter in his hand. Persephone (Proserpina) stands next to Hades with a lit torch in her hand. At the top, on both sides of the house of Hades, the righteous are depicted, and below: to the right - Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus, to the left - Orpheus playing the lyre, below are sinners, among whom you can recognize Tantalus by his Phrygian clothes and Sisyphus by the rock he rolls

Triple Goddess Hecate

According to the myths of ancient Greece, the goddess Persephone (Proserpina) was not given an active role in the kingdom of Hades. The goddess of Tartarus, Hecate, called upon the goddesses of vengeance, the Furies (Eumenides), who captured and possessed sinners.

The goddess Hecate was the patroness of magic and spells. The goddess Hecate was depicted as three women joined together. This, as it were, allegorically explains that the power of the goddess Hecate extended to heaven, earth and the kingdom of Hades.

Initially, Hecate was not the goddess of Hades, but she gave Europe blush and thereby aroused the admiration and love of Zeus (Jupiter). The jealous goddess Hera (Juno) began to pursue Hecate. The goddess Hecate had to hide from Hera under her funeral clothes and thus became unclean. Zeus ordered the purification of the goddess Hecate in the waters of the Acheron River, and since then Hecate has become the goddess of Tartarus - the underground kingdom of Hades.

Goddess Nemesis

Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, played almost the same role in the kingdom of the god Hades as the goddess Hecate.

The goddess Nemesis was depicted with her arm bent at the elbow, which hinted at the elbow - a measure of length in antiquity: “I, Nemesis, hold the elbow. Why, you ask? Because I remind everyone not to go overboard."

The Kingdom of the Dead by the ancient Greek artist Polygnotus

The ancient Greek author Pausanias describes a painting by the artist Polygnotus depicting the kingdom of the dead: “First of all, you see the river Acheron. The banks of Acheron are covered with reeds; Fish are visible in the water, but these are more like shadows of fish than living fish. There is a boat on the river, and the ferryman Charon is rowing the boat. It is impossible to clearly distinguish who Charon is transporting. But not far from the boat, Polygnotus depicted the torture that a cruel son is subjected to who dares to raise his hand against his father: it consists in the fact that his own father is forever strangling him. Next to this sinner stands a wicked man who dared to plunder the temples of the gods; some woman mixes poisons, which he must drink forever, while experiencing terrible torment. In those days people revered and feared the gods; Therefore, the artist placed the wicked man in the kingdom of Hades as one of the most terrible sinners.”

Sisyphus' labor, Tantalus's torments, Ixion's wheel

Almost no images of the kingdom of the dead survived in the art of antiquity. Only from the descriptions of ancient poets do we know about some sinners and the torture they were subjected to in the kingdom of the dead for their crimes. For example,

Ixion (Ixion wheel),
Sisyphus (Work of Sisyphus),
Tantalum (Tantalum flour),
daughters of Danae - Danaids (barrel Danaids).

Ixion insulted the goddess Hera (Juno), for which in the kingdom of Hades he was tied by snakes to a wheel that was forever spinning ( Ixion wheel).

In the kingdom of Hades, the robber Sisyphus had to roll a huge rock to the top of a mountain, but as soon as the rock touched this peak, an invisible force threw it into the valley, and the unfortunate sinner Sisyphus, sweating profusely, had to begin his difficult, useless work again ( Sisyphus's work).

Tantalus, the king of Lydia, decided to test the omniscience of the gods. Tantalus invited the gods to a feast, killed his own son Pelops and prepared a dish from Pelops, thinking that the gods would not recognize what a terrible dish was in front of them. But only one goddess, Demeter (Ceres), depressed by grief due to the disappearance of her daughter Persephone (Proserpina), accidentally ate a piece of Pelops’ shoulder. Zeus (Jupiter) ordered the god Hermes (Mercury) to collect the pieces of Pelops, put them back together and revive the child, and make Pelops' missing shoulder out of ivory. Tantalus, for his cannibal feast, was sentenced in the kingdom of Hades to stand up to his neck in water, but as soon as Tantalus, tormented by thirst, wanted to drink, the water left him. Over the head of Tantalus in the kingdom of Hades hung branches with beautiful fruits, but as soon as Tantalus, hungry, stretched out his hand to them, they rose to heaven ( Tantalum flour).

Barrel Danaid

One of the most interesting tortures in the kingdom of Hades, which was invented by the rich imagination of the ancient Greeks, is the one to which the daughters of Danaus (Danaida) were subjected.

Two brothers, descendants of the unfortunate Io, Egypt and Danai, had: the first - fifty sons, and the second - fifty daughters. The dissatisfied and indignant people, incited by the sons of Egypt, forced Danae to retire to Argos, where he taught the people to dig wells, for which he was elected king. Soon his brother's sons came to Argos. The sons of Egypt began to seek reconciliation with uncle Danai and wanted to take his daughters (Danaids) as wives. Danaus, seeing this as an opportunity to immediately take revenge on his enemies, agreed, but persuaded his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night.

All the Danaids, except one, Hypermnestra, carried out the orders of Danae, brought him the severed heads of their husbands and buried them in Lerna. For this crime, the Danaids were sentenced in Hades to forever pour water into a barrel that had no bottom.

It is believed that the myth about the barrel of Danaids seems to hint at the fact that the Danaids personify the rivers and springs of that country, which dry up there every summer. An ancient bas-relief that has survived to this day depicts the torture to which the Danaids are subjected.

The myth of the Champs Elysees (Elysium)

The opposite of the terrible kingdom of Hades is the Elysian Fields (Elysium), the seat of the sinless.

On the Champs Elysees (in Elysium), as described by the Roman poet Virgil, the forests are ever green, the fields are covered with luxurious harvests, the air is clean and transparent.

Some blissful shadows on the soft green grass of the Champs Elysees exercise their dexterity and strength in wrestling and games; others, rhythmically striking the ground with sticks, chant poetry.

Orpheus, playing the lyre in Elysium, extracts harmonious sounds from it. The shadows also lie under the canopy of laurel trees and listen to the cheerful murmur of the transparent springs of the Champs Elysees (Elysium). There, in these blissful places, are the shadows of wounded warriors who fought for the fatherland, priests who maintained chastity throughout their lives, poets whom the god Apollo inspired, everyone who ennobled people through art, and those whose good deeds left a memory of themselves, and all they are crowned with the snow-white bandage of the sinless.

ZAUMNIK.RU, Egor A. Polikarpov - scientific editing, scientific proofreading, design, selection of illustrations, additions, explanations, translations from Latin and ancient Greek; all rights reserved.

2 who is old man Charon. The meaning of the word charon in the directory of characters and cult objects of Greek mythology

Etymology of the name

In art

Underground geography

In astronomy

see also

Write a review on the article "Charon (mythology)"

Notes

Excerpt characterizing Charon (mythology)

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what CHARON is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

Meaning of the word Charon

Charon in the crossword dictionary

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

Mythological dictionary

Wikipedia

Examples of the use of the word charon in literature.

Charon - moon of Pluto

Characteristics

Rivers Aida Styx and Acheron

Carrier Charon

God Hades (Pluto) and goddess Persephone (Proserpina)

Judges of the kingdom of Hades Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus

Triple Goddess Hecate

Goddess Nemesis

The Kingdom of the Dead by the ancient Greek artist Polygnotus

Sisyphus' labor, Tantalus's torments, Ixion's wheel

Barrel Danaid

The myth of the Champs Elysees (Elysium)