Character/Andrea Leggeri

Caronte

generic; mythological figure

In Greek and Roman mythology, Charon is the ferryman of the Underworld, son of Erebus and Nyx. He transports the souls of the deceased across the river Acheron, requiring as payment an obol, a coin placed under the tongue of the deceased. Souls without burial or without the obol are condemned to wander along the riverbanks. Depicted as a surly old man, Charon appears in Virgil's Eneide (Aeneid) and Dante's Divina Commedia. In Etruscan mythology, a similar figure is Charun, often portrayed with a hammer. Charon's figure has been represented in Italian art since the 15th century. A significant example is the work of Sandro Botticelli, who, between 1480 and 1495, created a series of drawings to illustrate the Divina Commedia. In these works, Botticelli depicts Charon as an old ferryman, consistent with the description in the third canto of the Inferno. These illustrations are among the earliest artistic representations of Charon in Italy, contributing to the consolidation of his iconography in Renaissance art.