Charon Sightings

In Aristophanes' ancient comedy, The Frogs, Charon gives Dionysus a boat ride across Acheron, as the god of wine travels to the Underworld to bring back one of Athens' great tragedians. Useful chap, that Charon.

In Virgil's Aeneid, the ferryman takes Aeneas and Sybil across the River Styx. And get this: Aeneas isn't even dead yet. What's with the special treatment?

In Dante's epic poem, The Divine Comedy, Charon gets bossed around a bit by Virgil as he and Dante make their way through Hell.

T.S. Eliot drops references to Charon and his river in "The Hollow Men," a dark masterpiece of modern poetry.

Charon gets to show off his singing voice in Burt Shevelove and Stephen Sondheim's modern musical remake of The Frogs by Aristophanes.

The Ferryman was played by Michael Hurst in two TV Series: Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Both worth a viewing, we'd say.

Charon has a taste for Italian suits in The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

In The Amber Spyglass, the third installment of Philip Pullman's awesome His Dark Materials trilogy, Will and Lyra have to convince the Boatman to take them into the Land of the Dead.

In the grizzly God of War video game, Charon has robes with severed heads. Very classy.