Charon is the grumpy old Ferryman who transports the souls of the dead into the Underworld by taking them across the River Acheron or the River Styx. Don't thank him quite yet: this was not a free service our man Charon was offering. You could only hitch a ride with the Ferryman if you had an obolus (a coin) to give him. Otherwise, you had to wait on the banks of the River Acheron for a hundred years until Mr. Grump would take you across. Make sure you bring exact change! You also weren't welcome on Charon's boat if you hadn't had a proper burial: in that case, you'd be doomed to wander the earth as a ghost, which the ancient Greeks thought was a fate worse than death. But the Greeks wised up: they were pretty obsessed with proper burial, and – don't forget about the fee – they would always place a coin under the tongue of the recently deceased.