Hellenic Coin

March 18, 2014 by aramanthea Leave a comment

Apologies for the quality of the pic but I only had my iphone at the time.

A recent funeral I did featured elements of the deceased lady’s personal Hellenic practices.
One of the personal touched was this gold coin. When a soul is transitioning after death, they are required to cross the River Styx on the Ferryman’s boat. But the Ferryman will not take you if you don’t have the payment of one gold coin.
The husband of this lady had the coin made, with the words ‘Payment for one immortal soul’ inscribed in greek.(I am paraphrasing as I can’t remember the exact wording)
This was placed in her mouth. In times past, the coin could be placed on the forehead or the lips, however the custom of placing it in the mouth came about to prevent thieves from finding it.