Charon's obol

English

Noun

Charon's obol (plural Charon's obols)

  1. (Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A coin placed in or on the mouth of a deceased person as a payment or bribe for Charon, the ferryman of Hades.
    Synonym: death penny
    • 2018, Rory Naismith, editor, Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages‎[1], →ISBN, page 337:
      Also, the Charon's obol of classical tradition was a low-value coin, a symbol that death makes rich and poor equal.
    • 2020, Franco De Angelis, editor, A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World‎[2], →ISBN, page 445:
      However, in tombs all over the cemetery the use of "Charon's obols" was widely practiced, primarily in the form of the local Kolkhidki minted after the Persian weight standard.
    • 2022, Glenn W. Most, editor, Studies on the Derveni Papyrus, Volume II‎[3], →ISBN, page 318:
      In Pieria, particularly, gold coins or pseudo-coins were employed as lamellae, also being inscribed and on at least two occasions deposited in the burial in the same way as a Charon's obol.

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