Why are coins placed over the eyes of the dead in the movie "Troy"?

Hi aqharider,

The reason coins were placed on the eyes of the dead were for payment
to the ferryman. The Greeks buried their dead with coins over their
eyes or under their tongues so that they could pay Charon, the
ferryman, to carry them over the river Styx into the Underworld.


"When Priam goes to Achilles to claim the body of Hector, he asks to
have the body in order to perform the funeral rites and specifically
mentions "let me place the coins over his eyes for the boatman". This
references the belief of the Greeks that one had to pay the ferryman
Charon to get into the underworld."

Movie Mistakes
http://www.moviemistakes.com/film4152/corrections/page2


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I hope this helps. If you have any questions regarding my answer
please don't hesitate to ask before rating it.

Best wishes,
Rainbow

Wow- thanks for a very fast answer! Just thought I'd give this Google
Answer thing a try and I'm impressed.