Who transported the dead to the realm. The meaning of the word charon in the directory of characters and cult objects of Greek mythology

Rivers Aida Styx and Acheron. - Carrier Charon. - God Hades (Pluto) and goddess Persephone (Proserpina). - Judges of the kingdom of Hades Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus. - The Trinity Goddess Hekate. - Goddess Nemesis. - The kingdom of the dead by the ancient Greek artist Polygnotus. - Sisyphean labor, Tantalum's torment, Ixion's wheel. - Barrel Danaid. - The myth of the Champs Elysees (Elysium).

Rivers Aida Styx and Acheron

According to the myths of ancient Greece, there were countries on the globe where eternal night reigned and the sun never rose over them. In such a country, the ancient Greeks placed the entrance to Tartarus- the underground kingdom of the god Hades (Pluto), the kingdom of the dead in Greek mythology.

The kingdom of the god Hades was irrigated by two rivers: Acheron And Styx. The gods swore in the name of the river Styx, pronouncing oaths. Oaths river Styx were considered inviolable and terrible.

The River Styx rolled its black waves through the silent valley and circled the realm of Hades nine times.

Carrier Charon

Acheron, a dirty and muddy river, was guarded by a ferryman Charon. The myths of ancient Greece describe Charon in this form: in dirty clothes, with an uncombed long white beard, Charon steers his boat with one oar, in which he transports the shadows of the dead, whose bodies are already buried on earth; Charon mercilessly repels those deprived of burial, and these shadows are condemned to wander forever, not finding rest (Virgil).

Ancient art depicted the ferryman Charon so rarely that Charon's type became known only through poets. But in the Middle Ages, the gloomy carrier Charon appears on some monuments of art. Michelangelo placed Charon in his famous work"Day of the Last Judgment", depicting Charon carrying sinners.

For transportation across the Acheron River, it was necessary to pay the carrier of souls. This belief was so rooted among the ancient Greeks that a small Greek coin was put in the mouth of the dead. obol to pay Charon. The ancient Greek writer Lucian mockingly notes: “It didn’t occur to people whether this coin was in use in the underground kingdom of Hades, and they also didn’t realize that it would be better not to give this coin to the dead, because then Charon would not want to transport them, and they might return to the living again.”

As soon as the shadows of the dead were transported through Acheron, the dog Aida met them on the other side. Cerberus(Kerberus), having three heads. Lay Cerberus so terrified the dead that it took away from them even any thought of the possibility of returning to where they came from.

God Hades (Pluto) and Goddess Persephone (Proserpina)

Judges of the Kingdom of Hades Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus

Then the shadows of the dead were to appear before the god Hades (Pluto), the king of Tartarus, and the goddess Persephone (Proserpina), the wife of Hades. But the god Hades (Pluto) did not judge the dead, this was done by the judges of Tartarus: Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus. According to Plato, Aeacus judged the Europeans, Rhadamanth - the Asians (Radamanth was always depicted in an Asian costume), and Minos, at the behest of Zeus, had to judge and decide doubtful cases.

A well-preserved painting on an ancient vase depicts the kingdom of Hades (Pluto). In the middle is the house of Hades. The god Hades himself, the lord of the underworld, sits on a throne, holding a scepter in his hand. Near Hades stands Persephone (Proserpina) with a lit torch in her hand. Above, on both sides of the house of Hades, the righteous are depicted, and below: to the right - Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus, to the left - Orpheus plays the lyre, below are the sinners, among whom you can recognize Tantalus by his Phrygian clothes and Sisyphus by the rock that he rolls.

Trinity Goddess Hekate

According to the myths of ancient Greece, the goddess Persephone (Proserpine) was not given an active role in the kingdom of Hades. The goddess Tartarus Hecate called on the goddesses of vengeance Furies (Eumenides), who seized and took possession of sinners.

The goddess Hekate was the patroness of magic and spells. The goddess Hekate was depicted as three women connected together. This, as it were, allegorically explains that the power of the goddess Hecate extended to heaven, earth and the kingdom of Hades.

Initially, Hecate was not the goddess of Hades, but she gave Europe blush and thus, as it were, aroused the admiration and love of Zeus (Jupiter). The jealous goddess Hera (Juno) began to pursue Hekate. The goddess Hekate had to hide from Hera under the funeral clothes and thus became unclean. Zeus ordered to cleanse the goddess Hekate in the waters of the Acheront River, and since then Hekate has become the goddess of Tartarus - underworld Aida.

Goddess Nemesis

Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, played in the kingdom of the god Hades almost the same role as the goddess Hekate.

The goddess Nemesis was depicted with her arm bent at the elbow, which hinted at the elbow - a measure of length in antiquity: “I, Nemesis, hold the elbow. Why, you ask? Because I remind everyone not to exceed the limits.

The kingdom of the dead by the ancient Greek artist Polygnotus

The ancient Greek author Pausanias describes a painting by the artist Polygnotus depicting the realm of the dead: “First of all, you see the river Acheron. The banks of Acheron are covered with reeds; fish are visible in the water, but these are more fish shadows than live fish. There is a boat on the river, the carrier Charon is rowing in the boat. You can't really tell who Charon is transporting. But not far from the boat, Polygnot depicted the torture that a cruel son undergoes when he dares to raise a hand against his father: it consists in the fact that his own father is forever strangling him. Beside this sinner stands a wicked man who dared to plunder the temples of the gods; a woman mixes poisons, which he must drink forever, while experiencing terrible torment. In those days, people honored and feared the gods; therefore, the artist placed the wicked in the kingdom of Hades, as one of the worst sinners.

Sisyphean labor, Tantalum's agony, Ixion's wheel

Almost no depiction of the realm of the dead has been preserved in the art of antiquity. Only from the descriptions of ancient poets do we know about some sinners and about the tortures they were subjected to in the realm of the dead for their crimes. For example,

• Ixion (wheel of Ixion),
• Sisyphus (Sisyphean labor),
• Tantalum (Tantalum flour),
• daughters of Danae - Danaids (barrel Danaids).

Ixion offended the goddess Hera (Juno), for which in the kingdom of Hades he was tied by snakes to a wheel that always turned ( Ixion wheel).

The robber Sisyphus had to roll a huge rock to the top of the mountain in the kingdom of Hades, but as soon as the rock touched this peak, an invisible force threw it into the valley, and the unfortunate sinner Sisyphus, sweating, had to start his difficult, useless work again ( Sisyphean labor).

Tantalus, king of Lydia, decided to test the omniscience of the gods. Tantalus invited the gods to a feast, stabbed his own son Pelops and prepared a dish from Pelops, thinking that the gods would not know what a terrible dish was before them. But only one goddess Demeter (Ceres), dejected by grief due to the disappearance of her daughter Persephone (Proserpina), accidentally ate a piece of Pelops' shoulder. Zeus (Jupiter) ordered the god Hermes (Mercury) to collect the pieces of Pelops, put them together again and revive the child, and make the missing shoulder of Pelops out of ivory. Tantalus for his cannibal feast was sentenced in the kingdom of Hades to stand up to his neck in water, but - as soon as Tantalus, tormented by thirst, wanted to get drunk - the water left him. Over the head of Tantalus in the kingdom of Hades hung branches with beautiful fruits, but as soon as Tantalus, hungry, stretched out his hand to them, they rose to heaven ( Tantalum flour).

Barrel Danaid

One of the most interesting tortures in the kingdom of Hades, which the rich imagination of the ancient Greeks came up with, is the one that the daughters of Danae (Danaida) were subjected to.

Two brothers, descendants of the unfortunate Jo, Egypt and Danai, had: the first - fifty sons, and the second - fifty daughters. Dissatisfied and indignant people, incited by the sons of Egypt, forced Danae to retire to Argos, where he taught the people to dig wells, for which he was elected king. Soon the sons of his brother came to Argos. The sons of Egypt began to seek reconciliation with their uncle Danai and wished to take his daughters (Danaid) as their wives. Danai, seeing this as an opportunity to immediately take revenge on his enemies, agreed, but persuaded his daughters to kill him in wedding night husbands.

All the Danaids, except for one, Hypermnestra, carried out the order of Danae, brought him the severed heads of their husbands and buried them in Lerna. For this crime, the Danaids were sentenced in Hades to forever pour water into a barrel that had no bottom.

It is believed that the myth of the Danaid barrel hints that the Danaids personify the rivers and springs of that country, which dry up there every summer. An ancient bas-relief that has survived to this day depicts the torture that the Danaids are subjected to.

The myth of the Champs Elysees (Elysium)

The opposite of the terrible kingdom of Hades are the Champs Elysees (Elysium), the seat of the sinless.

On the Champs Elysees (in Elysium), according to the description of the Roman poet Virgil, the forests are evergreen, the fields are covered with luxurious harvests, the air is clean and transparent.

Some blissful shadows on the soft green grass of the Champs Elysees exercise their dexterity and strength in wrestling and games; others, rhythmically hitting the ground with sticks, chant verses.

Orpheus, playing the lyre in Elysium, extracts harmonious sounds from it. Shadows also lie under the canopy of laurel trees and listen to the cheerful murmur of the transparent springs of the Champs Elysees (Elysium). There, in these blissful places, are the shadows of wounded warriors who fought for the fatherland, priests who have maintained chastity all their lives, poets whom the god Apollo inspired, all those who ennobled people through art, and those whose benefactions left a memory of themselves, and all they are crowned with the snow-white bandage of the sinless.

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The meaning of the word charon

charon in the crossword dictionary

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

Charon

m. An old carrier ferrying the shadows of the dead to Hades through the underground rivers Styx and Acheron (in ancient mythology).

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

Charon

in Greek mythology, the carrier of the dead through the rivers of the underworld to the gates of Hades; to pay for transportation, a coin was put in the mouth of the deceased.

Mythological dictionary

Charon

(Greek) - the son of Erebus and Nikta, a carrier in the kingdom of the dead, ferrying the souls of the dead in a shuttle through the rivers of the underworld. It was believed that X. took a fee for transportation, so a small coin (obol) was put in the mouth of the deceased.

Charon

in ancient Greek mythology, the carrier of the dead through the rivers of the underworld to the gates of Hades. To pay for transportation, a coin was placed in the mouth of the deceased.

Wikipedia

Charon (satellite)

Charon(from; also (134340) PlutoI) is a satellite of Pluto discovered in 1978 (in another interpretation, it is a smaller component of a binary planetary system). With the discovery in 2005 of two other satellites - Hydra and Nikta - Charon was also referred to as Pluto I. Named after the character of ancient Greek mythology, Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead across the river Styx. In July 2015, the American New Horizons probe reached Pluto and Charon for the first time in history and explored them from a flyby trajectory.

Charon

Charon:

• Charon - in Greek mythology, the carrier of the souls of the dead across the river Styx to Hades.
• Charon is Pluto's largest moon.
• Charon of Lampsak (5th century BC) is an ancient Greek historiographer-logographer.

• Charon is the browser of the Inferno operating system.
• Charon is a Finnish gothic metal band.

Charon (mythology)

Charon in Greek mythology - the carrier of the souls of the dead across the river Styx (according to another version - through Acheron) to Hades. Son of Erebus and Nyukta.

Depicted as a gloomy old man in rags. Charon transports the dead along the waters of underground rivers, receiving for this a payment (navlon) of one obol. It transports only those dead whose bones have found peace in the grave. Only a golden branch plucked in the grove of Persephone opens the way for a living person to the kingdom of death. Under no circumstances will it be returned.

Examples of the use of the word charon in the literature.

This sport also had its own religious touch: the slaves who pulled the dead bodies out of the arena with hooks put on the masks of the transporter of souls in the underworld, Charon.

It's time, apparently, brothers, to move from the Cossack saddle to the canoe Charon.

Thousands of eyes turned to the great gate, which was approached by a man dressed Charon, and in general silence he struck them three times with a hammer, as if calling to death those who were behind them.

But then the prefect gave a sign: immediately the old man came out again, dressed up Charon, the same one that called the gladiators to death, and, with a leisurely tread, passed through the entire arena, in the dead silence that reigned, again struck the door with a hammer three times.

After that, the unfortunate follower Charon for some time he worked as a uniform operator of the Tsaritsyno circus, a seller of a beer stall, a loader in a furniture store and a packer in a sugar-packing shop.

Jacob Silvius, who never reconciled with the rebellious student, forded the Styx in order to save an extra obol, not to give it to the greedy Charon.

For a long time we did not believe that these tragic events are somehow connected with your city - unless the relationship of Bourget with the rest Charon beneficial to both parties?

On Charone people also enjoyed hunting and fishing, and the inhabitants of Montlay and Bourget bought semi-finished meat products and were tormented by moral feelings no more than the inhabitants of the jungle.

Judging by the clash in Bourges, you have nothing to fear - common people Charon will eventually prevail.

Styx, the mythical river of the dead, is known not only for being a link between the world of the living and the otherworldly kingdom of Hades. A large number of myths and legends are associated with it. For example, Achilles received his strength when he was dipped into the Styx, Hephaestus came to its waters to temper Daphne's sword, and some heroes swam across it while still alive. What is the River Styx and what power do its waters have?

Styx in Greek mythology

Ancient Greek myths tell us that the Styx is eldest daughter Oceana and Tethys. Her husband was the titan Pallant, from whom she bore several children. Also, according to one version, Persephone was her daughter, born of Zeus.

Styx took the side of Zeus in his battle with Kronos, taking an active part in it. She made a significant contribution to the victory over the titans, for which she received great honor and respect. Since then, the river Styx has become a symbol of a sacred oath, breaking which was considered unacceptable even for a god. Those who violated the oath by the waters of the Styx were severely punished. However, Zeus was always supportive of Styx and her children because they always helped him and were faithful.

River in the realm of the dead

What is the River Styx? The mythology of the ancient Greeks says that there are places on earth where the sun never looks, so eternal darkness and gloom reign there. It is there that the entrance to the possessions of Hades - Tartarus is located. Several rivers flow in the realm of the dead, but the Styx is the darkest and most terrible of them. The river of the dead goes around the kingdom of Hades nine times, and its waters are black and muddy.

According to legend, Styx originates far in the west, where night reigns. Here is the magnificent palace of the goddess, the silver columns of which, which are streams of a spring falling from a height, reach the heavens. These places are uninhabited, and even the gods do not visit here. An exception can be considered Iris, who occasionally arrived for the sacred water of Styx, with the help of which the gods made their oaths. Here, the waters of the source go underground, where horror and death live.

There is one legend that says that once the Styx flowed in the northern part of Arcadia, and Alexander the Great was poisoned with water taken from this river. Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy”used the image of a river in one of the circles of hell, only there it appeared as a dirty swamp in which sinners would get bogged down forever.

Carrier Charon

The crossing to the kingdom of the dead is guarded by Charon, a ferryman on the river Styx. In myths Ancient Greece he is depicted as a gloomy old man with a long and unkempt beard, and his attire is dirty and shabby. Charon's duties include transporting the souls of the dead across the River Styx, for which he has a small boat and a single oar at his disposal.

It was believed that Charon rejected the souls of those people whose bodies were not properly buried, so they were forced to wander forever in search of peace. Also in antiquity, there was a belief that it was necessary to pay the ferryman Charon to cross the Styx. To do this, during burial, the relatives of the deceased put a small coin in his mouth, which he could use in the underworld of Hades. By the way, a similar tradition existed among many peoples of the world. The custom of putting money in a coffin is observed by some people to this day.

Analogues of Styx and Charon

The River Styx and its guardian Charon are quite characteristic images describing the transition of the soul to another world. Having studied mythology different peoples, you can see similar examples in other beliefs. For example, among the ancient Egyptians, the duties of an escort to the afterlife, which also had its own river of the dead, were performed by the dog-headed Anubis, who brought the soul of the deceased to the throne of Osiris. Anubis looks very similar to gray wolf, which, according to beliefs Slavic peoples, also accompanied souls to another world.

IN ancient world there were many legends and traditions, sometimes they could not correspond or even contradict each other. For example, according to some myths, the ferryman Charon transported souls not through the Styx, but through another river - Acheron. There are also other versions regarding its origin and further role in mythology. Nevertheless, the River Styx today is the personification of the transition of souls from our world to the afterlife.

Charon

(Greek) Egyptian Ku-en-wa, hawk-headed Helmsman of the barge, melting Souls through the black waters that separate life from death. Charon, Son of Erebus and Noxa, is a variant of Ku-en-wa. The dead had to pay an obol, a small amount of money, to this relentless ferryman of Styx and Acheron, so the ancients always put a coin under the tongue of the deceased. This custom has survived to this day, for most of the lower classes in Russia put copper coins in a coffin under the head of the deceased for posthumous expenses.

Source: "Theosophical Dictionary"

Synonyms:

See what "Charon" is in other dictionaries:

- (Charon, Χάρων). Son of Erebus and Night, an old, dirty ferryman in the underworld who transports the shadows of the dead across hellish rivers. For transportation, he received one obol, which was placed in the mouth of the deceased. (Source: " Concise Dictionary mythology and antiquities. Encyclopedia of mythology

In Greek myth., the son of Erebus and Night, the carrier of the shadows of the dead through the Styx, the river of the underworld. Dictionary foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. CHARON Greek. Charon. Among the ancients: carrier dead souls through the rivers of hell... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

CHARON, a satellite of PLUTO, discovered in 1978. Its diameter is 1270 km, in relation to the accompanied planet (Pluto) it is the largest of the satellites in solar system. According to various estimates, the mass of Charon is from 8% to 16% of the mass of Pluto. Charon… … Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

Charon: Charon (satellite) Pluto's largest moon Charon (mythology) in Greek mythology is the carrier of the souls of the dead across the River Styx to Hades. Charon: Charon (browser) browser of the Inferno operating system. Charon (band) ... ... Wikipedia

Carrier Dictionary of Russian synonyms. charon n., number of synonyms: 3 carrier (15) ... Synonym dictionary

In Greek mythology, the carrier of the dead through the rivers of the underworld to the gates of Hades; to pay for the transportation, a coin was put in the mouth of the deceased ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

In the myths of the ancient Greeks, the carrier of the dead along the waters of underground rivers to the gates of Hades; received for this payment in one obol (according to funeral rite found under the tongue of the dead). Depicted as a gloomy old man in rags ... Historical dictionary

Charon- (Greek Χάρων Charon) in Greek mythology, the son of Erebus and Night, an old man, a carrier of the souls of the dead across Acheron, a river in the kingdom of the dead. The Greeks had a custom to put a small coin in the mouth of the deceased so that he could pay off X. The Etruscans considered ... Antique world. Dictionary reference.

CHARON Dictionary-reference book on Ancient Greece and Rome, on mythology

CHARON- In Greek mythology, the carrier of the souls of the dead across the Acheron River in Hades; at the same time, a funeral rite and a payment of one obol (small coin), placed under the tongue of the deceased, had to be observed. Charon was known to Homer, but by the end of the 6th c. BC… … List of ancient Greek names

Carrying the souls of the dead across the Acheron River. (Greek myth.) Cf. Who will carry my Word into the darkness of Pluto to her? The boat of Charon is always moving, But he takes only shadows. Zhukovsky. Ceres Complaints. Wed A desperate husband puts his snout into vodka, which he ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary

Books

• Kharon, Bochkov Valery Borisovich. They say that Charon - the carrier of the souls of the dead to Hades - is distinguished by ferocious blue eyes. American commando Nick Summers, aka Russian orphan Nikolai Korolev, also blue-eyed and ferocious, and also ...

Charon (mythology)

Depicted as a gloomy old man in rags. Charon transports the dead along the waters of underground rivers, receiving for this a payment (navlon) in one obol (according to the funeral rite, located under the tongue of the dead). It transports only those dead whose bones have found peace in the grave. Only a golden branch, plucked from the grove of Persephone, opens the way for a living person to the kingdom of death. Under no circumstances will it be returned.

Name etymology

The name Charon is often explained as being derived from χάρων ( Charon), the poetic form of the word χαρωπός ( charopos), which can be translated as "having a sharp eye." He is also referred to as having fierce, flashing or feverish eyes, or eyes of a bluish-gray color. The word can also be a euphemism for death. Blinking eyes may signify Charon's anger or irascibility, which is often mentioned in the literature, but the etymology is not fully determined. The ancient historian Diodorus Siculus believed that the boatman and his name came from Egypt.

In art

In the first century BC, the Roman poet Virgil described Charon during the descent of Aeneas into the underworld (Aeneid, Book 6), after the Sibyl from Kuma sent the hero for a golden branch that would allow him to return to the world of the living:

Gloomy and dirty Charon. Ragged gray beard
The whole face is overgrown - only the eyes burn motionless,
The cloak is knotted at the shoulders and hangs ugly.
He drives the boat with a pole and rules the sails himself,
The dead are transported on a fragile boat through a dark stream.
God is already old, but he keeps a vigorous strength even in old age.

original text(lat.)

Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat
terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento
canities inculta iacet; stant lumina flame,
sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.
Ipse ratem conto subigit, velisque ministrat,
et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba,
iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus.

Other Roman authors also describe Charon, among them Seneca in his tragedy Hercules Furens, where Charon is described in lines 762-777 as an old man, dressed in a dirty robe, with sunken cheeks and an untidy beard, a cruel ferryman who steers his ship with a long pole. When the ferryman stops Hercules, preventing him from passing to the other side, the Greek hero proves his right of passage by force, defeating Charon with the help of his own pole.

In the second century AD, in Lucian's Conversations in the Realm of the Dead, Charon appeared, mainly in parts 4 and 10 ( "Hermes and Charon" And "Charon and Hermes") .

Mentioned in the poem by Prodicus from Phocaea "Miniad". Depicted in a painting by Polygnotus at Delphi, a ferryman across Acheron. Actor comedy by Aristophanes "The Frogs".

Underground geography

In most cases, including descriptions in Pausanias and, later, in Dante, Charon is located near the river Acheron. Ancient Greek sources such as Pindar, Aeschylus, Euripides, Plato and Callimachus also place Charon on Acheron in their writings. Roman poets, including Propertius, Publius, and Statius, name the river Styx, possibly following Virgil's description of the underworld in the Aeneid, where it was associated with both rivers.

In astronomy

see also

• Isle of the Dead - painting.
• Psychopomp - a word denoting the guides of the dead to the next world.

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Notes

1. Myths of the peoples of the world. M., 1991-92. In 2 vols. T.2. S.584
2. Euripides. Alcestis 254; Virgil. Aeneid VI 298-304
3. Lyubker F. Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. M., 2001. In 3 volumes. T.1. p.322
4. Liddell and Scott A Greek-English Lexicon(Oxford: Clarendon Press 1843, 1985 printing), entries on χαροπός and χάρων, pp. 1980-1981; Brill's New Pauly(Leiden and Boston 2003), vol. 3, entry on "Charon," pp. 202-203.
5. Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, "Reading" Greek Death(Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 359 and p. 390
6. Grinsell, L. V. (1957). "The Ferryman and His Fee: A Study in Ethnology, Archeology, and Tradition". Folklore 68 (1): 257–269 .
7. Virgil, Aeneid 6.298-301, translated into English by John Dryden, into Russian by Sergey Osherov (English lines 413-417.)
8. See Ronnie H. Terpening . Charon and the Crossing: Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Transformations of a Myth(Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1985 and London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1985), pp. 97-98.
9. For an analysis of these dialogues, see Terpening, pp. 107-116.)
10. For an analysis of Dante's description of Charon and his other appearances in literature from ancient times to the 17th century in Italy, see Turpenin, Ron, Charon and the Crossing.
11. Pausanias. Description of Hellas X 28, 2; Miniade, French 1 Bernabe
12. Pausanias. Description of Hellas X 28, 1
13. See for collected source passages with work and line annotations, as well as images from vase paintings .

15. Oleg Igorin Two banks of Charon

An excerpt characterizing Charon (mythology)

“Please, princess ... prince ...” Dunyasha said in a broken voice.
“Now, I’m going, I’m going,” the princess began hastily, not giving Dunyasha time to finish what she had to say, and, trying not to see Dunyasha, she ran to the house.
“Princess, the will of God is being done, you must be ready for anything,” said the leader, meeting her at the front door.
- Leave me. It is not true! she yelled angrily at him. The doctor wanted to stop her. She pushed him away and ran to the door. “And why are these people with frightened faces stopping me? I don't need anyone! And what are they doing here? She opened the door, and a bright daylight in this previously dim room terrified her. There were women and a nurse in the room. They all moved away from the bed, making way for her. He lay still on the bed; but the stern look of his calm face stopped Princess Marya on the threshold of the room.
"No, he's not dead, it can't be! - Princess Mary said to herself, went up to him and, overcoming the horror that seized her, pressed her lips to his cheek. But she immediately pulled away from him. Instantly, all the strength of tenderness for him, which she felt in herself, disappeared and was replaced by a feeling of horror for what was before her. “No, he is no more! He is not there, but right there, in the same place where he was, something alien and hostile, some kind of terrible, terrifying and repulsive secret ... - And, covering her face with her hands, Princess Marya fell into the hands of the doctor, who supported her.
In the presence of Tikhon and the doctor, the women washed what he was, tied a handkerchief around his head so that his open mouth would not stiffen, and tied his diverging legs with another handkerchief. Then they put on a uniform with medals and laid a small shriveled body on the table. God knows who and when took care of this, but everything became as if by itself. By night, candles burned around the coffin, there was a cover on the coffin, juniper was sprinkled on the floor, a printed prayer was placed under the dead, shrunken head, and a deacon sat in the corner, reading a psalter.
As horses shied away, crowded and snorted over a dead horse, so in the living room around the coffin crowded people of strangers and their own - the leader, and the headman, and the women, and all with fixed, frightened eyes, crossed themselves and bowed, and kissed the cold and stiff hand of the old prince.

Bogucharovo was always, before Prince Andrei settled in it, a private estate, and the men of Bogucharov had a completely different character from those of Lysogorsk. They differed from them in speech, clothing, and customs. They were called steppes. The old prince praised them for their endurance in their work when they came to help clean up the Bald Mountains or dig ponds and ditches, but did not like them for their savagery.
The last stay in Bogucharovo of Prince Andrei, with his innovations - hospitals, schools and easier dues - did not soften their morals, but, on the contrary, strengthened in them those character traits that old prince called savagery. Between them there were always some kind of obscure talk, either about listing them all as Cossacks, or about a new faith to which they would be converted, then about some royal lists, then about an oath to Pavel Petrovich in 1797 (about which they said that then even the will came out, but the gentlemen took it away), then about Peter Feodorovich, who will reign in seven years, under whom everything will be free and it will be so simple that nothing will happen. Rumors about the war in Bonaparte and his invasion combined for them with the same vague ideas about the Antichrist, the end of the world and pure will.
In the vicinity of Bogucharov there were more and more large villages, state-owned and quitrent landlords. There were very few landowners living in this area; there were also very few servants and literates, and in the life of the peasants of this area were more noticeable and stronger than in others, those mysterious jets of Russian folk life, the causes and significance of which are inexplicable to contemporaries. One of these phenomena was the movement between the peasants of this area to move to some warm rivers, which manifested itself about twenty years ago. Hundreds of peasants, including Bogucharov's, suddenly began to sell their livestock and leave with their families somewhere to the southeast. Like birds flying somewhere beyond the seas, these people with their wives and children strove to go there, to the southeast, where none of them had been. They went up in caravans, bathed one by one, ran, and rode, and went there, to the warm rivers. Many were punished, exiled to Siberia, many died of cold and starvation along the way, many returned on their own, and the movement died down by itself just as it had begun without an obvious reason. But the underwater streams did not stop flowing in this people and gathered for some kind of new force that could manifest itself just as strangely, unexpectedly, and at the same time simply, naturally and strongly. Now, in 1812, for a person who lived close to the people, it was noticeable that these underwater jets produced powerful work and were close to manifestation.
Alpatych, having arrived in Bogucharovo some time before the death of the old prince, noticed that there was unrest among the people and that, contrary to what was happening in the Bald Mountains on a sixty-verst radius, where all the peasants left (leaving the Cossacks to ruin their villages), in the steppe zone , in Bogucharovskaya, the peasants, as was heard, had relations with the French, received some papers that went between them, and remained in their places. He knew through the courtyard people devoted to him that the peasant Karp, who had recently traveled with a state-owned cart, and who had a great influence on the world, returned with the news that the Cossacks were devastating the villages from which the inhabitants came out, but that the French did not touch them. He knew that another peasant had even brought yesterday from the village of Visloukhovo, where the French were stationed, a paper from the French general, in which the inhabitants were declared that no harm would be done to them and that everything that was taken from them would be paid for if they stayed. As proof of this, the peasant brought from Visloukhov one hundred rubles in banknotes (he did not know that they were fake), given to him in advance for hay.
Finally, and most importantly, Alpatych knew that on the very day he ordered the headman to collect carts for the export of the princess's convoy from Bogucharov, in the morning there was a gathering in the village, at which it was supposed not to be taken out and wait. Meanwhile, time was running out. The leader, on the day of the death of the prince, on August 15, insisted on Princess Marya that she leave on the same day, as it was becoming dangerous. He said that after the 16th he was not responsible for anything. On the day of the prince's death, he left in the evening, but promised to come to the funeral the next day. But the next day he could not come, because, according to the news he himself received, the French suddenly moved in, and he only managed to take his family and everything valuable from his estate.
For about thirty years, Bogucharov was ruled by the headman Dron, whom the old prince called Dronushka.
Dron was one of those physically and morally strong men who, as soon as they enter the age, will grow a beard, and so, without changing, live up to sixty - seventy years, without one gray hair or lack of a tooth, as straight and strong at sixty as at thirty.
Dron, soon after moving to the warm rivers, in which he participated, like others, was made headman steward in Bogucharovo, and since then he has been flawlessly in this position for twenty-three years. The men were more afraid of him than the master. Gentlemen, and the old prince, and the young, and the manager, respected him and jokingly called him a minister. During all the time of his service, Dron was never drunk or sick; never, not after sleepless nights, not after any kind of labor, did he show the slightest fatigue and, not knowing how to read and write, never forgot a single account of money and pounds of flour for the huge carts that he sold, and not a single shock of snakes for bread on every tithe of the Bogucharov fields.