Home › In Greece and Italy › In Greece and Italy: Charon

In Greece and Italy: Charon

In one of Lucian's comedies Charon comes from the underworld to view things and people in the world above, and Mercury conducts him about. Charon asks to see the sepulchres where dead bodies are inhumed, and when Mercury shows him the cemeteries, the ancient ferryman of Hades is puzzled at the wasted mead he sees poured out in honor of the dead, - mead, or metheglin, as it is also called, being, as we know, a fermented drink made from honey and frequently used in libations. "Charon. Why, then, crown they These stones, and why with unguent rich anoint them? And why do some, heaping a funeral pile Before the mounds, and digging out a trench, Burn sumptuous viands there, and in the ditches Pour, if I right conjecture, mead and wine? "Mercury. I know not, ferryman, what use it can be To those in Hades; but it is believed That souls returning from the world below Will come to supper - very probable!

Hovering above the savor and the smoke, And from the trench will drink up the metheglin."

Needless to say, Lucian was more faithful as a chronicler of ancient customs than as a believer in them.

In the "Odyssey" Circe directs Ulysses on his way to Pluto's realm, there to consult the mighty seer, Tiresias. At the entrance to the abode of the dead two streams meet, and Circe says: - "At the place where meet The ever-roaring waters stands a rock; Draw near to that, and there I bid thee scoop In earth a trench, a cubit long and wide.

And round about it pour to all the dead Libations, - milk and honey first, and next Rich wine, and lastly water, scattering White meal upon them."

Honey cakes were offered as a parting gift to the dead, with which to appease Cerberus, and Virgil, in the "Eneid," tells us how the hero Æneas descended into Hades, conducted by the Sibyl of Cumæ to consult with his father Anchises. With much difficulty Charon, the ferryman conveys his living freight across the river Styx, to where frightful Cerberus lay barking from his triple jaws. In Greece and Italy "To whom the prophetess, seeing his neck now bristle with horrid snakes, flings a soporific cake of honey and medicated grain. He, in the mad rage of hunger, opening his three mouths, snatches the offered morsel, and, spread on the ground, relaxes his monstrous limbs, and is extended at vast length over all the cave."

Offerings of honey were made to the household gods, as is illustrated in one of the "Elegies" of Tibullus. "Or dulcet cakes himself the farmer paid, When crown'd his wishes by your powerful aid; While his fair daughter brought with her from home The luscious offering of a honey-comb."

In fact, honey forms a part of the sacrifices made to most of the members of the Greek and Latin pantheon, a supposed cause, as we remember, of its prohibition as a sacrifice by the Hebrews.

Particularly to the gods and goddesses of the fields and gardens was honey a necessary offering, for it formed, as we shall see later, a very important part of the wealth of the agriculturist, and was a valued article of nutriment. It continually appears in connection with flour and milk and wine as offerings to the gods, the flour symbolizing the nutrient plant world, the milk the nutrient animal world, and honey the ethereal sweet gift of the gods. Priapos, the special protector of fields and gardens, received the first-fruits of the field and libations of wine and honey. He was supposed to be the son of Dionysos and Aphrodite; fertility in plants and animals was ascribed to him, and he protected herds, bee-hives, and fishing nets. Pan, also the god of the fields, received his share of homage - and honey offerings.

Thus sings the Shepherd Comatas in one of the "Idyls of Theocritus": - "Nay, but an if thou wilt come, thou shalt tread here the soft-feathered fern, and flowering thyme, and beneath thee shall be thrown the skins of she-goats, four times more soft than the fleeces of thy lambs. And I will set out eight bowls of milk for Pan, and eight bowls full of the richest honey-combs."

The Romans are said to have had a special goddess of honey, Mellonia, to whom they made sacrifices.