Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CHARON

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 948 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.

Encyclopedia Home :: CHA-CHR

Spread the word:

del.icio.us it!

CHARON , in See also:

Greek See also:

MYTHOLOGY

mythology, the son of See also:

EREBUS

Erebus and Nyx (See also:

NIGHT

Night). It was his See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty to See also:

ferry over the See also:

STYX

Styx (or See also:

ACHERON

Acheron) those souls of the deceased who had duly received the See also:

RITES

rites of See also:

BURIAL

burial, in See also:

PAYMENT (Fr. paiement, from payer, to pay; Lat. pacare, to appease, pax, peace)

payment for which service he received an obol, which was placed in the mouth of the See also:

CORPSE (Lat. corpus, the body)

corpse. It was only exceptionally that he carried living passengers (Aeneid, vi. 295 ff.). As ferryman of the dead he is not mentioned in See also:

HOMER, WINSLOW (1836-191o)

Homer or See also:

HESIOD

Hesiod, and in this See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character is probably of See also:

EGYPTIAN

Egyptian origin. He is represented as a morose and grisly old See also:

man in a See also:

black sailor's cape. By the Etruscans he was also supposed to be a See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of executioner of the powers•of the nether See also:

WORLD

world, who, armed with an enormous See also:

HAMMER, FRIEDRICH JULIUS (1810-1862)

hammer, was associated with See also:

Mars in the slaughter of See also:

BATTLE

battle. Finally he came to be regarded as the See also:

IMAGE (Lat. imago, perhaps from the same root as imitari, copy, imitate)

image of See also:

DEATH

death and the world below. As such he survives in the Charos or Charontas of the See also:

MODERN

modern Greeks—a black See also:

BIRD

bird which darts down upon its See also:

PREY (0. Fr. preie, mod. proie, Lat. praeda, booty, from prae and the root hed—seen in prehendere, prendere, to grasp)

prey, or a winged horseman who fastens his victims to the See also:

SADDLE (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Sattel, Dut. zadel, also in Russ. siedlo and Lat. sella, for sedla; it is not derived directly from Lat. sedile, which means a chair, but all the words are to be referred to the root sad-, which gives

saddle and bears them away to the realms of the dead. See J. A. Ambrosch, De Charonte Etrusco (1837), a learned and exhaustive monograph; B.

See also:

Schmidt, Volksleben der Neugriechen (1871), i. 222-251; O. Waser, Charon, Charun, Charos, mythologischarchaologische Monographie (1898) ; S. Rocco, " Sull' origine del Mito di Caronte," in Rivista di stories antica, ii. (1897), who considers Charon to be an old name for the See also:

sun-See also:

GOD

god Helios embarking during the night for the See also:

End of Article: CHARON

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CHAROLLES

[next]
CHARONDAS