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Charon

Charon on the River Styx in the Greek Underworld. Source: Dracus / Goodfon

Dark Sketches & Stories from the Underworld in Greek Mythology

One of the most fascinating concepts of Greek mythology is that of the underworld. The Greek underworld is one of three realms that make up the cosmos. It was believed that after death, an individual...
Roman executions at the Colosseum were a gruesome affair, as depicted in The Christian Marturs' Last Prayer by Jean-Léon Gérôme. Source: Public domain

Roman Executions in the Colosseum: The Stories of Laureolus and Androcles

Public order in ancient Rome was a priority for the elite, who contrived a range of gruesome punishments for purportedly serious crimes deserving the death penalty. As a result, a day of fun and...
A 19th-century interpretation of Charon's crossing by Alexander Litovchenko.

Charon, Son of Night and Shadow, Ferrier of the Dead

In days of old, the dead were buried with a silver coin (the shiner the better) so that the souls of the faithful departed could pay the toll to the deathless demon ferryman of the underworld: Charon...
The buried children found in Poland were in sandy ground and were arranged on an east-west axis, all with heads to the west on their backs with the hands at their sides. Source: Arkadia Firma Archeologiczna

The Buried Children Found in Poland With Coins In Their Mouths

In 2020, the centuries-old remains of 115 children’s bodies were discovered by construction workers laying a road in in Podkarpackie province, south-east Poland . This apparently bizarre discovery...
The baby had been partially mummified and had green bones due to copper from a coin placed in its hand.

Green-Boned Baby Clasps A Copper Ticket to The Afterlife

500 graves dated to between the 12th and 16th centuries were found in a cemetery at Nyárlőrinc, a village in southern Hungary. They contained a unique set of bones. In 2005, Dr. János Balázs, a...
Archaeologists Unearth Thracian Princess Grave Rich with Jewelry and Mythic Meaning

Archaeologists Unearth Thracian Princess Grave Rich with Jewelry and Mythic Meaning

The remains of an ancient Thracian noblewoman that was ritually dismembered has been unearthed along with bronze and silver jewelry buried with her in a rock tomb in the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria...
Exposing the Shady Secrets of Charon's Obols: Spirit Coins of Ancient Greece

Exposing the Shady Secrets of Charon's Obols: Spirit Coins of Ancient Greece

Charon’s obols were coins supposedly used by the ancient Greeks for funerary purposes. More precisely, the belief is that these coins were used by the shades (roughly equivalent to the concept of ‘...