Charon at The Louvre, Paris

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Charon, the ferryman of Hades, transports souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx and Acheron, a boundary between the world of the living and the realm of the dead. Charles-Francois Hutin carved this marble sculpture in 1744 for the Royal Academy, showcasing his artistic skill. A coin to pay Charon's fee was typically placed in or on the mouth of a deceased person, usually an obolus or danake. Some accounts suggest that those unable to pay or left unburied were doomed to wander the shores for one hundred years. In mythology, heroes like Heracles, Orpheus, Aeneas, Theseus, Sisyphus, Dionysus, Odysseus, and Psyche embarked on a perilous journey to the underworld, returning alive with Charon's boat as their vessel.