# TV Rant too tiny for the pit: Dead People's Eyes - STOP IT! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-rant-too-tiny-for-the-pit-dead-peoples-eyes-stop-it/524826 "2010-01-13T20:01:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-rant-too-tiny-for-the-pit-dead-peoples-eyes-stop-it/524826/21 "2010-01-14T01:28:11Z")
It seems to me that the position of the head would have a great deal to with it, as would the general, uh, _bugginess_ of the eyes. Which brings up another reason for closing/covering the eyes and/or putting a sheet over the corpse: keeping away flies. Of course I’m just speculating here, and with any luck it will remain speculative for some time. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-rant-too-tiny-for-the-pit-dead-peoples-eyes-stop-it/524826/22 "2010-01-14T01:43:51Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > [FYI](http://www.shroud.com/lombatti.htm): That site is a scholarly review of the question of whether it was Jewish custom to put coins on the eyes of the dead in the 1st century. They agree that it was not. It was, however a Greek custom. > [@](#): > > Lombatti correctly states that it was not customary among the Jews to put coins on the eyes or in the mouths of the dead as was done by the Greeks and other ancient peoples. Archaeologist Rachel Hachlili contributed to the early confusion of Filas and some others regarding burial customs by her statement regarding the finding of two coins of Herod Agrippa I (AD 41–44) inside a skull in a Jewish tomb : “Coins were often placed on the eyes of the decreased=97a vestige of a pagan custom to pay Charon, the guardian of the river leading to the land of the dead.” (Biblical Archaeology Review, (4), 1979, page 35). The writer goes on to say that the coins were more often placed in the mouths of the dead as a Jewish custom. I don’t agree that the page as a whole settles the question of whether other, later, cultures placed coins as a symbolic rite or for the mundane purpose of holding down eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-rant-too-tiny-for-the-pit-dead-peoples-eyes-stop-it/524826/23 "2010-01-14T01:43:55Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > It can’t be any more difficult to have thunder follow lightning than it is to get it wrong and have them occur simultaneously. Dammit. If it’s happening right outside the window, it is as near simultaneous as dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-rant-too-tiny-for-the-pit-dead-peoples-eyes-stop-it/524826/24 "2010-01-14T01:58:25Z")
I don’t always draw the eyes of dead characters for my TV show, but when I do, I prefer dos equis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-rant-too-tiny-for-the-pit-dead-peoples-eyes-stop-it/524826.md?page=1)