{"id":4298,"date":"2026-04-27T10:35:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/thanatos\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:25:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:25:39","slug":"thanatos","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/thanatos\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanatos"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"4298\" class=\"elementor elementor-4298 elementor-1964 elementor-bc-flex-widget\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-10fdade e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"10fdade\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-herohlft0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"herohlft0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c3ceb64 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"c3ceb64\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-96ae5e1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"96ae5e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos, God of the Greek Tradition<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e45238a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e45238a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Thanatos is a god of the Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span>.<\/p><p><strong>A calm messenger of death, brother of sleep, son of Nyx.<\/strong> Thanatos is the personification of death itself, not as chaos or torment, but as a gentle, inevitable passage into the afterlife.<\/p><p>Unlike Hades, who rules over the underworld, Thanatos is the act of dying itself. With dark wings and an inverted torch, he attends people at the end of their lives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-klsbdg01 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"klsbdg01\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-klshtm01 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"klshtm01\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"iwg-pill-row\"><span class=\"iwg-klasse-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"God \/ Goddess: A personified supreme power within the pantheon of a culture, with clearly defined domains: natural forces, fate, war, fertility. Worshipped through cults, sacrifices and temple institutions.\">God<\/span><a href=\"\/en\/greece\/\" class=\"iwg-kultur-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Religion and mythology of ancient Greece from the Mycenaean period to late antiquity.\">Greece<\/a><a href=\"\/en\/death-deities\/\" class=\"iwg-tradition-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Gods of the underworld and of death, rulers of the afterlife, judges of the dead, guides of souls.\">Death Deity<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f74855 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3f74855\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1c30362 elementor-toc--minimized-on-tablet elementor-widget elementor-widget-table-of-contents\" data-id=\"1c30362\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;exclude_headings_by_selector&quot;:[],&quot;no_headings_message&quot;:&quot;Es wurden keine \\u00dcberschriften auf dieser Seite gefunden.&quot;,&quot;headings_by_tags&quot;:[&quot;h2&quot;,&quot;h3&quot;],&quot;marker_view&quot;:&quot;bullets&quot;,&quot;minimize_box&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;fas fa-circle&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;,&quot;rendered_tag&quot;:&quot;&lt;svg class=\\&quot;e-font-icon-svg e-fas-circle\\&quot; viewBox=\\&quot;0 0 512 512\\&quot; xmlns=\\&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.w3.org\\\/2000\\\/svg\\&quot;&gt;&lt;path d=\\&quot;M256 8C119 8 8 119 8 256s111 248 248 248 248-111 248-248S393 8 256 8z\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/path&gt;&lt;\\\/svg&gt;&quot;},&quot;minimized_on&quot;:&quot;tablet&quot;,&quot;hierarchical_view&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;min_height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"table-of-contents.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-toc__header-title\">\n\t\t\t\tTable of Contents\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--expand\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Open table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-down\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M207.029 381.476L12.686 187.132c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941l22.667-22.667c9.357-9.357 24.522-9.375 33.901-.04L224 284.505l154.745-154.021c9.379-9.335 24.544-9.317 33.901.04l22.667 22.667c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941L240.971 381.476c-9.373 9.372-24.569 9.372-33.942 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--collapse\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Close table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-up\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M240.971 130.524l194.343 194.343c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941l-22.667 22.667c-9.357 9.357-24.522 9.375-33.901.04L224 227.495 69.255 381.516c-9.379 9.335-24.544 9.317-33.901-.04l-22.667-22.667c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941L207.03 130.525c9.372-9.373 24.568-9.373 33.941-.001z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" class=\"elementor-toc__body\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__spinner-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"elementor-toc__spinner eicon-animation-spin e-font-icon-svg e-eicon-loading\" aria-hidden=\"true\" viewBox=\"0 0 1000 1000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M500 975V858C696 858 858 696 858 500S696 142 500 142 142 304 142 500H25C25 237 238 25 500 25S975 237 975 500 763 975 500 975Z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-herorght0 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"herorght0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-heroimg00 iwg-hero-image elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"heroimg00\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/goetter_griechenland_thanatos-683x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-4299\" alt=\"Thanatos - gods from the Greek tradition, historical and illustrative\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/goetter_griechenland_thanatos-683x1024.webp 683w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/goetter_griechenland_thanatos-200x300.webp 200w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/goetter_griechenland_thanatos-768x1152.webp 768w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/goetter_griechenland_thanatos.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-32917199 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"32917199\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-26e916cb e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"26e916cb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-253a40d4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"253a40d4\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1200c304 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1200c304\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-11758e7f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"11758e7f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div><p><strong>Hesiod, Homer and the Divine Personification of Death<\/strong><\/p><p>In the <em>Theogony<\/em> (ca. 700 BC), Hesiod describes <em>Thanatos<\/em> as the son of Nyx (Night) and the brother of Hypnos (Sleep). This cosmological positioning makes Thanatos not a malicious <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effects are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demon<\/span>, but a primary force of order; the god of death is necessary for the structure of the universe.<\/p><p>In the <em>Iliad<\/em>, Homer treats Thanatos as an ambivalent figure: he is inescapable and no bribe can divert him, yet he is also not sadistic or evil in the manner of a demon.<\/p><p>This early characterization distinguishes Thanatos from Hades, the god of the underworld. Thanatos is the process of dying or of transition, not the dominion over the dead. Hades is the ruler of a realm, Thanatos is the force that crosses the boundary. This differentiation was preserved in <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Epoch of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancient<\/span> <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The study of pictorial content and its meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">iconography<\/span> and later in Christian <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The scholarly study of God and of the faith of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span>.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-159dcf9a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"159dcf9a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-48cee66f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"48cee66f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Quick Overview: Thanatos<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f50d82c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3f50d82c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Thanatos already appears in Hesiod&#8217;s Theogony as a son of Nyx and brother of Hypnos, with whom he dwells in the underworld. In Euripides&#8217; Alcestis he comes on stage as an acting character, whom Heracles overpowers in a wrestling match to snatch Alcestis from death. The <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A transmitted narrative about gods, origins and the order of the world.\" tabindex=\"0\">myth<\/span> of Sisyphus further relates that the cunning king of Corinth put Thanatos in chains, so that for a time no one could die.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-18613602 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"18613602\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-262b8a9f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"262b8a9f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Historical Classification<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-46dcb7d e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"46dcb7d\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-61d3ab3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"61d3ab3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-117c166 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"117c166\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Period of the Texts<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-73997a0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"73997a0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Hesiod&#8217;s Theogony, ca. 700 BC, is the oldest literary source. Homer&#8217;s Iliad V, 844; XVI, 672, 682 describes Thanatos and his brother Hypnos as gentle beings who carry away the dead.<\/p><p>Apollodorus (1st to 2nd century AD) and Virgil expand on this. Greek tragedy: Thanatos as a metaphor for human mortality and the inevitable. Later the Stoics: a law of nature.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d47b156 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d47b156\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ff38c2b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ff38c2b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Area of Distribution<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e49fcc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e49fcc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Area of distribution:<\/strong> Thanatos is primarily Greek, with worship throughout Hellas. The Romans adopted him as Mors and Letum. In the Dionysian mysteries and Orphic traditions, Thanatos held a central role as the threshold between life and the underworld. Southern Italy and Sicily (Magna Graecia) had specialized Thanatos <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A sacred place dedicated to the veneration of a deity.\" tabindex=\"0\">sanctuaries<\/span>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-db03c39 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"db03c39\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-229a87b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"229a87b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1f471fc elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1f471fc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Source Situation<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36b1201 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"36b1201\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Primary sources:<\/strong><br><em>Hesiod, Theogony<\/em> 211, 225<br><em>Homer, Iliad<\/em> XVI, 672, 682<br><em>Sophocles, Antigone<\/em><br><em>Euripides, Alcestis<\/em><br><em>Apollodorus, Bibliotheca<\/em> I, 3, 1; II, 5, 12<br><strong>Secondary sources:<\/strong> Burkert; Dodds; Bremmer; Nilsson<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ae0637c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3ae0637c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-31d07739 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"31d07739\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Designation and Spellings<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b7642947 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"b7642947\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a086266 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a086266\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Thanatos is depicted as a winged <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effects are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demon<\/span> or a youthful man, often with black wings similar to those of the sleep god Hypnos. His attributes are an inverted, extinguished torch (the end of life), and frequently also a sword or a scythe.<\/p><p>His face is grave but not evil, rather melancholic. Some depictions show him with the urn of ashes, others with a butterfly, a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A sign that stands in place of an idea or meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">symbol<\/span> of the soul (<em>psyche<\/em>).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-709a44a8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"709a44a8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2f585873 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2f585873\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Characteristics<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70621c12 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"70621c12\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4296eb49 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4296eb49\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Thanatos is not the object of a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of religious acts of worship for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>, but rather an object of respect and cautious protective <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The linguistic turning of a person toward a deity.\" tabindex=\"0\">prayer<\/span>. He is not worshipped, but accepted as necessary. Mortals appeal instead to Hades, Persephone or other gods to obtain mercy in the afterlife.<\/p><p>In Euripides&#8217; drama <em>Alcestis<\/em>, Heracles wrestles with Thanatos to save the mortal Alcestis, a rare scene that shows even death can be repelled by force, but should not be. Thanatos represents acceptance and dignity in the face of mortality.<\/p><p><strong>Appearance and Symbolism<\/strong><\/p><p>Thanatos is depicted as a young, imposing man with wings (for the mobility of death) and sometimes with an inverted torch (a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A sign that stands in place of an idea or meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">symbol<\/span> of extinguished life) or a scythe. Sometimes he wears dark robes. His color is dark gray or black.<\/p><p>In contrast to modern horror depictions of death, Thanatos is not terrifying; he is rather shy or sorrowful. He is said to have loved life and not to have wanted people to die; yet his duty was unshakeable. His presence brings not fear, but a strange, peaceful <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A representation worked in raised relief out of a surface.\" tabindex=\"0\">relief<\/span>.<\/p><div><p><strong>Euripides and the Negotiation with the Inevitable<\/strong><\/p><p>Euripides&#8217; drama <em>Alcestis<\/em> (438 BC) presents Thanatos as a dramatic figure. He comes to fetch the dying Alcestis but is distracted by the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An offering to a deity to express thanks, a request or worship.\" tabindex=\"0\">sacrifice<\/span> of another; Heracles strikes him down.<\/p><p>The drama presents Thanatos as a force that is respected and feared, yet under certain conditions can also be overcome. Euripides uses Thanatos not as an abstract concept, but as an acting character with will and motives.<\/p><p>This dramatic realization subsequently made Thanatos more relevant for non-religious contexts as well. Writers and philosophers could engage with Thanatos without having to take a specific <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the doctrines of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theological<\/span> position. The Alcestis became the standard reference for literary figures of death.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-44e71476 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"44e71476\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3c1fc3f0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3c1fc3f0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Profile: Thanatos<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-84f33b8e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"84f33b8e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-hqkdc67p elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"hqkdc67p\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Thanatos is the Greek personification of death, neither evil nor merciful, but necessary and inevitable. As the son of Night (Nyx), he represents a cosmic force older than the Olympian gods and respected even by Zeus.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c5 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c1 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c1\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-qh9oavvu iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"qh9oavvu\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-awzx8k2k elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"awzx8k2k\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos' Origin<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-x6rowhv0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"x6rowhv0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Genealogy:<\/strong> Son of Nyx and, as such, brother of Hypnos (Sleep). His family includes Charon (the ferryman), the Erinyes (<span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which agency in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirits<\/span> of vengeance), Nemesis (justice) and all the other children of Nyx. This family represents the inescapable forces of existence. <br><strong>Distinctive feature:<\/strong> Unlike other gods, Thanatos has no offspring; he is terminal, not productive.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e3o4kxs iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"8e3o4kxs\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-08rkdgov elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"08rkdgov\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos' Target Group<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-uwjelx8s elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"uwjelx8s\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>This section will be filled in a forthcoming update to the encyclopedia.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-jm2n74ec iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"jm2n74ec\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8vufse4c elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8vufse4c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos' Appearance<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-mwb9u015 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"mwb9u015\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In the visual arts, the appearance of Thanatos changes markedly over the course of <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The era of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">antiquity<\/span>. On the white-ground lekythoi of the 5th century BC, the classic grave vessels of Athens, he appears together with his brother Hypnos as a bearded, winged man who gently carries the deceased to burial.<\/p><p>In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the image of a youthful, winged genius increasingly prevails, holding a lowered, extinguished torch, an <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A vivid image that stands for an abstract idea.\" tabindex=\"0\">emblem<\/span> of extinguishing life. Unlike in the modern conception, the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The era of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancient<\/span> Thanatos is rarely depicted as frightening; the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span> emphasizes gentle, inevitable death in contrast to the violent dying attributed to the Keres.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c2 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37ss2yr6 iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"37ss2yr6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3v0wp3wx elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3v0wp3wx\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos' Effect<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-w3247g2m elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"w3247g2m\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Mythical effect:<\/strong> In Euripides&#8217; Alcestis, Thanatos appears as a dramatic figure, a priest in black robes who comes to fetch Alcestis.<\/p><p>Heracles fights him physically and defeats him to bring Alcestis back, the only instance in which Thanatos is defeated, and it demonstrates his absolute power. Homer&#8217;s Iliad: Thanatos and Hypnos gently carry away the dead Sarpedon. Hesiod: inevitable but not actively hostile.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0qpjal9w iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"0qpjal9w\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6ndoih0o elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6ndoih0o\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos' Defense<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6684tyh9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6684tyh9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic discipline that studies religions comparatively and without confessional commitment.\" tabindex=\"0\">religion<\/span> knew no lasting defense against Thanatos, for death was considered part of the order laid down by the Moirai. The myths tell only of temporary exceptions: Sisyphus bound Thanatos through cunning, and Heracles overpowered him in a wrestling match for Alcestis. In cult, the Greeks met death less with protective <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Practices that seek to intervene in the course of events through special actions or formulas.\" tabindex=\"0\">magic<\/span> than with correct burial rites meant to secure the soul&#8217;s passage into Hades.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3lfi7x32 iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3lfi7x32\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0kg99ga1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"0kg99ga1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos' Parallels<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-n0fum6kp elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"n0fum6kp\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The closest parallel to Thanatos is his own brother Hypnos, with whom he carries the fallen Sarpedon to Lycia in the Iliad. As personified death he can be compared with the Roman Mors, who is largely a transfer of the Greek figure. Unlike judges of the dead such as Yama or Yanluo, Thanatos does not pass judgment on the deceased but merely carries out the transition from life to death.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7533bc7a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7533bc7a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2447d18d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2447d18d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Defense in Everyday Life<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d5d0260c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d5d0260c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-341be2ac elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"341be2ac\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Rituals for Defense and Worship<\/strong><\/p><p>Although Thanatos could not be directly warded off, there were rituals for appeasement and a dignified handover. Burial rituals were central: libations to Thanatos during the funeral, asking him to lead the deceased gently. In households, regular commemorative festivals (Anthesteria) honored Thanatos and the deceased.<\/p><p><strong>Incantations and Invocations<\/strong><\/p><p>Direct invocations of Thanatos were rare, but there were prayers for a gentle death. At deathbeds: &#8220;Come gently, Thanatos, and let my passage be painless.&#8221; Orphic Hymn 87 describes Thanatos as necessary and respected. <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Practices that seek to intervene in the course of events through special actions or formulas.\" tabindex=\"0\">Magical<\/span> papyri: formulas against an evil death and pleas for a sweet death.<\/p><p><strong><span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A worn object to which a protective, misfortune-averting effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">Amulets<\/span> and Protective Symbols<\/strong><\/p><p>The pomegranate <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A worn object to which a protective, evil-averting effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">amulet<\/span> (a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A sign that stands in place of an idea or meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">symbol<\/span> of the underworld and of transition) was widespread. Coins bearing the image of Thanatos were taken along as grave goods to secure the passage. Late <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The transitional era between antiquity and the Middle Ages, roughly the 3rd to 7th century.\" tabindex=\"0\">antique<\/span> Roman rings: Thanatos and Hypnos, their duality serving as protective symbols. Black stones were used as Thanatos amulets for a dignified death.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a584676 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5a584676\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6d0757bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6d0757bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos, Parallels in Other Cultures<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-60563f68 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"60563f68\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a93fdd6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5a93fdd6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Similar personifications of death are found everywhere: the Roman <em>Mors<\/em>, the Celtic <em>M\u00f3r<\/em>, the Germanic <em>Hel<\/em>. In Eastern traditions, Yama (Hindu) or Dharmaraja (Buddhism) is the judge of the dead, while the West depicts Thanatos as almost poetic.<\/p><p>Charon (the ferryman) is his associated god, Hades his commissioner. Thanatos differs from malevolent deities in that he does not punish; he only carries out.<\/p><div><p><strong>Hellenistic Iconography and Freud&#8217;s Death Drive<\/strong><\/p><p>In the Hellenistic period, Thanatos and his twin Hypnos were frequently depicted in sculpture, often as winged youths who watch together over the deceased.<\/p><p>This iconographic stability suggests that Thanatos was anchored not only in literature but also in religious and aesthetic terms. Roman sarcophagus decoration adopted these pictorial motifs and spread them across the empire.<\/p><p><span data-nosnippet>In modern psychoanalysis, <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Viennese founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939); principal works The Interpretation of Dreams and Civilization and Its Discontents.\">Sigmund Freud<\/span> (<em>Beyond the Pleasure Principle<\/em>, 1920) drew on the ancient Thanatos to conceptualize his death drive. Freud saw in Thanatos an embodiment of unconscious destructive tendencies.<\/span><\/p><p>This analytical reading placed <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The era of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancient<\/span> <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span> in a new context, with Thanatos becoming a metaphor for psychological processes. Whether this connection is justified historically or only etymologically remains disputed in scholarship.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp6e4efff e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp6e4efff\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpd20f17c elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cpd20f17c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos in the Myth of Alcestis<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpd4fa8fc e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cpd4fa8fc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp40123d6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp40123d6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The most detailed narrative encounter with Thanatos in ancient literature is found in the <em>Alcestis<\/em> of Euripides, performed in 438 BC. The play opens with a prologue in which Apollo and Thanatos meet on stage.<\/p><p>Apollo has granted King Admetus an escape from death, provided that another dies voluntarily in his place. His wife Alcestis has agreed to do so, and Thanatos now appears to fetch her.<\/p><p>It is notable that Thanatos here appears as an acting, speaking figure, which is rare in Greek poetry. He curtly rejects Apollo&#8217;s request for a delay and insists on his right.<\/p><p>He describes himself as the one to whom the deceased belong and emphasizes that it is precisely from the young and beautiful that he gains his honor. Apollo prophesies to him that a man will come into the house of Admetus who will wrest the woman from him by force.<\/p><p>This man is Heracles. In a later scene, which is not shown on stage but reported, Heracles lies in wait for Thanatos at the grave of Alcestis as the latter wants to drink the blood of the funeral <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An offering to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">offerings<\/span>, seizes him and wrestles him down until he releases the dead woman.<\/p><p>This episode is one of the few testimonies that Thanatos can be overpowered, and it stands alongside the tale of Sisyphus, who bound Thanatos.<\/p><p>Scholarship debates whether Euripides himself created the stage figure of Thanatos or whether he drew on an older tradition. What is certain is that the drama presupposes the conception of death as a negotiable, physically tangible power, a conception that differs markedly from the later philosophical abstraction.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpf33d3d2 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cpf33d3d2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp019d23e elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp019d23e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Thanatos in the Visual Arts of Antiquity<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpd1914bc e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cpd1914bc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp69c8c04 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp69c8c04\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The iconographic <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span> of Thanatos is narrower than that of many other Greek deities, but it is significant. The most famous depiction is found on the so-called Euphronios krater, a red-figure calyx krater from the late 6th century BC, which is now exhibited once again in the archaeological museum of Cerveteri.<\/p><p>It shows Thanatos and his brother <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/hypnos\/\">Hypnos<\/a> carrying the dead Sarpedon from the battlefield, supervised by Hermes. Both brothers are depicted as winged, bearded warriors, following the Homeric scene from the 16th book of the <em>Iliad<\/em>.<\/p><p>In later vase painting and especially on white-ground lekythoi, the oil vessels that served as grave goods, Hypnos and Thanatos frequently appear as winged youths carrying a deceased person to the grave <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An upright inscribed or illustrated stone or wooden slab.\" tabindex=\"0\">stele<\/span>. These images belong to the fixed repertoire of Attic grave pottery of the 5th century.<\/p><p>A separate tradition developed in the Roman imperial period. On sarcophagi, death now often appears as a winged boy with a lowered, extinguished torch, a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring thematic element in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span> that continued to resonate in modern funerary art into the 19th century.<\/p><p>Whether this figure is directly identical to the Greek Thanatos or represents an independent Roman personification is disputed in scholarship.<\/p><p>A much-discussed single piece is a column drum from the later <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A structure that serves the veneration of one or more deities.\" tabindex=\"0\">Temple<\/span> of Artemis at Ephesus, which according to an old but unconfirmed interpretation shows a winged figure with a sword that has been addressed as Thanatos.<\/p><p>The attribution rests on a nearby <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A text incised or carved into a fixed support.\" tabindex=\"0\">inscription<\/span> and is considered uncertain. Overall, the evidence shows that Thanatos rarely stood at the center of a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Pictorial representation of a deity venerated in a temple or shrine.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult image<\/span>, but almost always appears in narrative or funerary contexts.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp1f239f2 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp1f239f2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp540a3c4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp540a3c4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Position in the Genealogy of the Night<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpe38f3c6 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cpe38f3c6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpcbcba41 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cpcbcba41\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In Greek poetry, Thanatos has no father. In the <em>Theogony<\/em>, Hesiod assigns him to the children of Nyx, the Night, whom she bore without a consort.<\/p><p>In this enumeration, Thanatos stands beside Hypnos, Sleep, beside Moros, Doom, beside the Keres, the spirits of death, beside Momos, Blame, beside Nemesis, Retribution, and beside further somber powers such as Apate, Geras and Eris.<\/p><p>This genealogy is more than a statement of kinship. It assigns death to a realm that is opposed to the Olympian realm of light and that brings forth from within itself, without a male principle.<\/p><p>Hesiod describes that Hypnos and Thanatos dwell in the far west, where the sun sets, and that the sun never looks upon them with its rays. He expressly contrasts the gentleness of Sleep with the iron hardness of Death, who has a merciless heart and never again releases anyone he has once seized.<\/p><p>The close bond with Hypnos runs through the entire <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span>. The two are regarded as twins or at least as inseparable brothers, and their depiction as a pair, for instance in carrying Sarpedon, emphasizes the kinship of sleep and death as a fundamental motif of Greek thought.<\/p><p>Thanatos differs from the Keres in character. The Keres are bloodthirsty, violent spirits of death who hunt for <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Gift to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">victims<\/span> on the battlefield.<\/p><p>Thanatos, by contrast, embodies death as such, as an inevitable end, without the connotation of cruel, premature dying. This distinction is not sharp everywhere, and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The era of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancient<\/span> texts occasionally use the terms in overlapping ways.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp30bed01 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp30bed01\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpb1b1dd1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cpb1b1dd1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">From Myth to Abstraction: Thanatos in Philosophy and Psychology<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp8374c77 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp8374c77\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpa4b6398 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cpa4b6398\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Already in <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The era of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">antiquity<\/span>, Thanatos increasingly lost his mythical form and became merely a word for death as a concept. In philosophical literature, for instance in Plato and the Stoics, <em>thanatos<\/em> appears as a factual term, not as a person.<\/p><p>The transition from a personal being to an abstraction can be traced in the history of the word and is an example of how personifications in Greek culture oscillate between figure and concept.<\/p><p><span data-nosnippet>The name made a second, influential career in the 20th century. In his work <em>Beyond the Pleasure Principle<\/em> of 1920, Sigmund Freud introduced the notion of a death drive that stands opposed to the life drive.<\/span><\/p><p>Freud himself did not use the term <em>Thanatos<\/em> in his published writings; it was introduced into the discussion by his pupil Wilhelm Stekel and later by others, and it established itself as the counterpart to Eros.<\/p><p>In the psychoanalytic tradition, Thanatos has since stood for the tendency toward aggression, destruction and a return to the inorganic state.<\/p><p>This usage is far removed from the ancient <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A being venerated as divine within a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">deity<\/span> and rests on a modern appropriation. It has nevertheless led to many people today knowing the name Thanatos more from psychology than from Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span>. The technical term <em>thanatology<\/em> for the scholarly study of dying and death is also derived from here.<\/p><p>In modern popular culture, Thanatos appears in novels, games and comics mostly as a personified death, often blended with traits of other death figures. This reception rarely draws on the specifically Greek sources, but serves a general image of death as a figure.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpff8fe6e e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cpff8fe6e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2048eb1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp2048eb1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Sisyphus and the Binding of Death<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp5098e4d e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp5098e4d\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp1d2086c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp1d2086c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In addition to the episode with Heracles, the Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span> knows a second tale in which Thanatos is overcome: the story of Sisyphus, the king of Corinth. It survives in several, partly contradictory versions, among others in the mythographer Pherecydes and in later compilations.<\/p><p>According to the most widespread version, when Thanatos came to fetch him, Sisyphus is said to have outwitted Death himself and put him in chains. As long as Thanatos was bound, no human could die anymore.<\/p><p>This state threw the order of the world into disarray, for the dead belong in the underworld, and the cessation of dying also affected the practice of sacrifice and the relationship between the living and the gods.<\/p><p>It was only the war god Ares who freed Thanatos and handed Sisyphus over to him, since Ares in particular had an interest in dying being possible again in war.<\/p><p>Sisyphus escaped death yet another time by instructing his wife not to make a funeral <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The concrete object or food offered to a deity.\" tabindex=\"0\">offering<\/span> for him, and then persuading Persephone to send him back to life to reprove the neglect.<\/p><p>For his repeated defiance of the order of death, he was finally given the well-known punishment in Hades of rolling a stone up a slope, which always rolls down again.<\/p><p>The tale belongs to a group of myths that negotiate the relationship between human cunning and inevitable mortality. It shows Thanatos not as omnipotent, but as a power that can be temporarily suspended, yet whose function is indispensable for the cosmic order.<\/p><p>Scholarship has pointed out that such tales of bound death are not a triumph over mortality, but rather confirm its necessity precisely through the chaos of the exception.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp6324cda e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp6324cda\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp69cec75 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp69cec75\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Cult and Ritual: Was Thanatos Worshipped?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp041f635 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp041f635\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpa8b8664 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cpa8b8664\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Unlike the great Olympian gods, and also unlike Hades, Thanatos had hardly any independent <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of religious acts of worship for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>. The source situation yields almost nothing for actual <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A building dedicated to the worship of one or more deities.\" tabindex=\"0\">temples<\/span> or fixed sacrificial festivals.<\/p><p>The geographer Pausanias reports in the 2nd century AD of a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A sacred place dedicated to the worship of a deity.\" tabindex=\"0\">sanctuary<\/span> in Sparta in which Hypnos and Thanatos were depicted together, and mentions elsewhere that the Spartans had erected images for Death and Laughter as well as similar personifications.<\/p><p>There is also said to have been a statue in Gythium. These reports are brief and reveal no elaborated cult practice.<\/p><p>This fits the character of the figure. Thanatos is less an addressee of requests than a power that one encounters without being able to change its <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An incorporeal being to which effects in the world are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">mind<\/span>.<\/p><p>Unlike Hades, who rules over the realm of the dead and plays a role in mystery cults, Thanatos is the process of dying itself, and a process is harder to address in cultic terms than a ruler.<\/p><p>Thanatos is, by contrast, tangible in funerary practice, that is, in the actions surrounding burial and commemoration of the dead. The white-ground lekythoi with the depiction of Hypnos and Thanatos were placed in the grave or set up at the grave monument.<\/p><p>Here the image of the gentle pair of brothers had a consoling function: death is brought close to sleep, and the carrying away of the deceased appears as a careful act.<\/p><p>Overall, the evidence shows that the Greeks acknowledged death as inevitable but hardly attempted to influence it through <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of religious acts of worship for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>. Where religious hope was directed toward an afterlife, for instance in the Eleusinian mysteries, it was directed toward Demeter and Persephone, not toward Thanatos.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36dd7469 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"36dd7469\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-13760ab4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"13760ab4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Further Links<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-28c87796 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"28c87796\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5d6538df elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5d6538df\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><a href=\"\/en\/nyx\/\">Nyx, mother of Thanatos<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/hypnos\/\">Hypnos, twin brother<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/en\/charon\/\">Charon, partner in the transition<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/hades\/\">Hades, kingdom of death<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/persephone\/\">Persephone, queen of the underworld<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-grl4kl40 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"grl4kl40\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bzsbfrmh elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"bzsbfrmh\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Research Literature<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c13224a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"2c13224a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0eymh9ub elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0eymh9ub\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><span data-nosnippet>Dodds, E.R.: The Greeks and the Irrational. 1951<\/span><\/li><li>Bremmer, Jan N.: Greek Religion. 2008<\/li><li>Rohde, Erwin: Psyche. 1925<\/li><\/ul>\n<p class=\"iwg-bib-more\"><span data-nosnippet>Further standard works in the <a href=\"\/en\/literature\/\">literature index<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-df83dfb e-con-boxed e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"df83dfb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a542f05 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a542f05\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>Frequently Asked Questions about Thanatos<\/h2><div class=\"iwg-faq-q\"><h3>Who is Thanatos in Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span>?<\/h3><p>Thanatos (Greek Thanatos, death) is, in Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span>, the personification of peaceful, nonviolent death, son of Nyx (Night) and brother of Hypnos (Sleep). In contrast to the Keres (violently killing spirits of fate), Thanatos gently takes the dying out of life.<\/p><p>He is typically depicted as a winged youth with an extinguishing torch. Unlike Hades (the realm of the dead) and its ruler of the same name, Thanatos is an independent being, death itself, not the realm of the dead.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"iwg-faq-q\"><h3>How does Thanatos differ from Hades?<\/h3><p>In Greek thought, these two concepts are clearly separated. Hades is the god of the realm of the dead and at the same time the name of this realm; he receives the dead and rules over them. Thanatos is death as an action, the moment in which life ends.<\/p><p>In the Alcestis <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A transmitted narrative about gods, origins and the order of the world.\" tabindex=\"0\">myth<\/span> (a tragedy by Euripides), Heracles wrestles with Thanatos in person to bring back Queen Alcestis, a scene that shows Thanatos is an independent figure with whom one can negotiate or fight. Sigmund Freud later took up Thanatos as a term for the death drive.<\/p><\/div><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who is Thanatos in Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span>?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Thanatos (Greek Thanatos, death) is, in Greek <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The entirety of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span>, the personification of peaceful, nonviolent death: son of Nyx (Night) and brother of Hypnos (Sleep). In contrast to the Keres (violently killing spirits of fate), Thanatos gently takes the dying out of life. He is typically depicted as a winged youth with an extinguishing torch. Unlike Hades (the realm of the dead) and its ruler of the same name, Thanatos is an independent being: death itself, not the realm of the dead.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How does Thanatos differ from Hades?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"In Greek thought, these two concepts are clearly separated. Hades is the god of the realm of the dead and at the same time the name of this realm: he receives the dead and rules over them. Thanatos is death as an action: the moment in which life ends. In the Alcestis <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A transmitted narrative about gods, origins and the order of the world.\" tabindex=\"0\">myth<\/span> (a tragedy by Euripides), Heracles wrestles with Thanatos in person to bring back Queen Alcestis: a scene that shows Thanatos is an independent figure with whom one can negotiate or fight. Sigmund Freud later took up Thanatos as a term for the death drive.\"}}]}<\/script>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanatos, God of the Greek Tradition Thanatos is a god of the Greek tradition. A calm messenger of death, brother of sleep, son of Nyx. Thanatos is the personification of death itself, not as chaos or torment, but as a gentle, inevitable passage into the afterlife. Unlike Hades, who rules over the underworld, Thanatos is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4299,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Thanatos","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Thanatos: God of Death in Greek Mythology","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Personification of death, son of Nyx, brother of Hypnos. 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