<P> In the 14th century, Dante Alighieri described Charon in his Divine Comedy, drawing from Virgil's depiction in Aeneid 6 . Charon is the first named mythological character Dante meets in the underworld, in Canto III of the Inferno . Dante depicts him as having eyes of fire . Elsewhere, Charon appears as a mean - spirited and gaunt old man or as a winged demon wielding a double hammer, although Michelangelo's interpretation, influenced by Dante's depiction in the Inferno, shows him with an oar over his shoulder, ready to beat those who delay ("batte col remo qualunque s'adagia", Inferno 3, verse 111). In modern times, he is commonly depicted as a living skeleton in a cowl, much like the Grim Reaper . The French artist, Gustave Dore, depicted Charon in two of his illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy . The Flemish painter, Joachim Patinir, depicted Charon in his Crossing the River Styx . And the Spanish painter, Jose Benlliure y Gil, portrayed Charon in his La Barca de Caronte . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Greek underworld </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Residents </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Aeacus </Li> <Li> Angelos </Li> <Li> Arae </Li> <Li> Ascalaphus </Li> <Li> Cerberus </Li> <Li> Ceuthonymus </Li> <Li> Charon </Li> <Li> Erinyes </Li> <Li> Eurynomos </Li> <Li> Hades / Pluto </Li> <Li> Hecate </Li> <Li> Hypnos </Li> <Li> Macaria </Li> <Li> Melinoe </Li> <Li> Menoetius </Li> <Li> Minos </Li> <Li> Moirai </Li> <Li> Mormolykeia </Li> <Li> Persephone </Li> <Li> Rhadamanthus </Li> <Li> Thanatos </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Geography </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Acheron </Li> <Li> Asphodel Fields </Li> <Li> Cocytus </Li> <Li> Elysium </Li> <Li> Erebus </Li> <Li> Lethe </Li> <Li> Phlegethon </Li> <Li> Styx </Li> <Li> Tartarus </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Famous Tartarus inmates </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> The Danaides </Li> <Li> Ixion </Li> <Li> Salmoneus </Li> <Li> Sisyphus </Li> <Li> Tantalus </Li> <Li> The Titans </Li> <Li> Tityus </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Visitors </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> Aeneas </Li> <Li> Dionysus </Li> <Li> Heracles </Li> <Li> Hermes </Li> <Li> Odysseus </Li> <Li> Orpheus </Li> <Li> Pirithous </Li> <Li> Psyche </Li> <Li> Theseus </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Greek underworld </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Residents </Th> </Tr>

Who ferries souls to the netherworld in mesopotamian cosmology