Charon's obol

plural Charon's obols

1. GreekRomanhuman sciencesA coin placed in or on the mouth of a deceased person as a bribe or payment for Charon, the ferryman of Hades.

   Also, the Charon's obol of classical tradition was a low-value coin, a symbol that death makes rich and poor equal.

   2018, Rory Naismith, editor, Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages, →ISBN, page 337

   2 more examples

   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.

   2020, Franco De Angelis, editor, A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World, →ISBN, page 445

   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.

   2022, Glenn W. Most, editor, Studies on the Derveni Papyrus, Volume II, →ISBN, page 318

   Synonyms: death penny