Charon carries the souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx that divided the world of the living from the world. The son of Erebus and Nyx, whose duty it was to ferry over the Rivers Styx and Acheron those souls of the deceased who had received the rites of burial. Single Obol - placed into the mouth before burial - as payment for his services, or else the soul in question would be left to wander the banks of the Styx for a hundred years. Across the River Styx on Charon’s ferry inhabitants sunk into witless oblivion, incapable of communicating with him. The untimely dead and the improperly buried suffer more than do common shades and notorious sinners for their crimes.