# Talk:Charon's obol

There were some minor edits recently that seemed incorrect to me, so I've changed them back. For instance, in the sentence on the demographic distribution of the custom, a needed conjunction was deleted (why?), and a correctly-used comma was replaced by an unnecessary em-dash. In the first footnote, the phrase "Charon's obol" was changed to the phrase "this term", which is simply incorrect; the point is not that the term is used to explain the placement of coins on the eyes, but rather the custom is incorrectly adduced to explain the placement. People placing coins on the eyes in the modern era may in fact use the term "Charon's obol" to describe what they're doing, for all I know, but that wasn't the ancient custom. There are a couple of other little things: In the sentence 'The phrase "Charon's obol" as used by archaeologists ... ", for some reason Charon's obol became italicized; it should be either placed in quotation marks OR italicized to show that it is a phrase used paratactically, but why both? I admire good copy-editing, which renders the original statement with greater architectural precision, but I confess I didn't understand what principles were being brought to bear here. Cynwolfe (talk) 18:45, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

I ended up here from today's FA on funerary art. This is also a really good article - has anyone considered putting it up for GA status? Bob talk 17:00, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Having just come across it, it looks to me at least GA-level, and could quite probably pass FA. It would be up to the primary author (Cynwolfe) to submit it, though; I'm not going to try to take credit for his work. Robofish (talk) 22:43, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
Anyone can nominate a good article. I just did, because this article is worthy. --bender235 (talk) 19:21, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Noticed your edit summary. These show very similar types,  with "obvious maritime connections", or so goes the description (somewhere or other, but not at that site). Why a crayfish in particular? I've no idea, and google-scholar had nothing to say on the matter. Ah, not quite nothing. A rather ancient British Museum catalogue offers "lobster/crayfish". Crustacean! QED. Haploidavey (talk) 14:01, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

The crawdaddy, as we called 'em, is plainer on some of the examples in your link. I am utterly unaware of any myth that references crustaceans. Scorpions, yes, and though I wondered whether that was the confusion, they don't seem to have the curled tail. Pass the lemon. Cynwolfe (talk) 15:06, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Charon's obol/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Aircorn (talk · contribs) 13:34, 2 March 2012 (UTC)
Will review this over the weekend

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
looks in good nick
It is reasonably well written.
a (prose):  b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): 
Mostly fine. A few minor points under comments that should be easily sorted
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references):  b (citations to reliable sources):  c (OR): 
Spot checks on information good
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects):  b (focused): 
Felt the Christian transformation sections focus was more on viaticum than the obol, but not enough to concern Good article status
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias: 

It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.: 
History and talk page look stable.
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales):  b (appropriate use with suitable captions): 
File:Medusa coin.jpg should be alright, but the license doesn't seem right. It says permission has been provided by CNG, yet it does not link to that permission.
Overall:
Pass/Fail: 


### Commments
The custom is primarily associated with the ancient Greeks and Romans, but is found also in the Near East, and later in Western Europe, particularly in the regions inhabited by Celts of the Gallo-Roman, Hispano-Roman and Romano-British cultures, and among Germanic peoples of late antiquity and the early Christian era, with sporadic examples into the early 20th century. Could this sentence be rewritten slightly to renove some of the commas. Maybe split into two senteces or rearranged someway. It is a bit awkward to read.
The word naulon (ναῦλον) is defined by the Christian-era lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria as the coin put into the mouth of the dead; What does Christian era mean? this?
I would describe Charon very briefly somewhere under terminology.
 In investigations reported 2001 by A. Destrooper-Georgiades, a specialist in Achaemenid numismatics, 33 tombs had yielded 77 coins. Grammar
In his best-known representation, on the problematic Gundestrup Cauldron, why is this problematic


### Review almost a month unanswered
I left a note on the nominator's talk page, in the hopes of getting the review comments answered. User:bender235 replied, "I'm sorry, but I cannot improve this article's content, because I did not write it. I'm no expert in this field." 
It would seem to me that after waiting a month, it's time to close this nomination one way or the other. There won't be any further edits from the nominator, who has refused to proceed further. Thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 05:11, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

It's close enough. I will make a few edits then pass it. Any other comments can be regarded as suggestions if it wants to be carried further. AIRcorn (talk) 12:15, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

I have added missing source (http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=128768) for File:Medusa coin.jpg. Odysses (○) 16:27, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

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