Funeral Rites for the Dead

Ancient Greek Mythology, Religion, Art

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As has been the case in so many other cultures, burial customs were very important to the ancient Greeks. The bodies of fallen kin might be buried or cremated, but in either case it was crucial to place a coin with the body (in the mouth for cases of burial). This was done because Charon, the ferryman who carried the souls of the deceased over the river Styx and into Hades, always required payment for his services.

Those who did not pay were left stranded on the shores of Styx. Many would then come back to haunt their families who treated them so shabbily after death - not an appealing prospect. The same fate awaited those whose bodies were never recovered after death, for example those who drowned at sea.

Those who had the money to pay Charon didn't have it much better, though. They faced eternity existing as pitiful shades, mere shadows of former selves. They were grey, their lives were grey, and it was hardly the sort of existence that anyone would consciously desire. It was, however, where they belonged and proper order was important to the Greeks so this was better than the alternatives.

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