![]() Hypnos and Thanatos carrying dead Sarpedon, while Hermes watches.īreton folklore shows us a spectral figure portending death, the Ankou. They had fangs and talons, and would be dressed in bloody garments. The sisters were portrayed as evil, often feeding on the blood of the body after the soul had been escorted to Hades. They were associated with deaths from battle, disease, accident, and murder. Thanatos’ sisters, the Keres, were the spirits of violent death. It was believed that if the ferryman did not receive some sort of payment, the soul would not be delivered to the underworld and would be left by the riverside for a hundred years. He then hands the dead over to Charon, who mans the boat that carries them over the river Styx, which separates the land of the living from the land of the dead. His job is to escort the dead to the underworld, Hades. He is typically shown with his brother and is represented as being just and gentle. He is the twin brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep. Death, or Thanatos, is the counterpart of life, death being represented as male, and life as female. ![]() He is often portrayed as a bearded and winged man, but has also been portrayed as a young boy. ![]() In many mythologies (including Anglo-American), Death is personified in male form, while in others, Death is perceived as female (for instance, Marzanna in Slavic mythology).Īncient Greece found Death to be inevitable, and therefore, he is not represented as purely evil. Other beliefs hold that the Spectre of Death is only a psychopomp, serving to sever the last ties between the soul and the body, and to guide the deceased to the next world, without having any control over when or how the victim dies. In turn, people in some stories try to hold on to life by avoiding Death’s visit, or by fending Death off with bribery or tricks, as in the case of Sisyphus. In some mythologies, the Grim Reaper actually causes the victim’s death by coming to collect them. Reapers - Thirteen Brothers (Watty Awards Paranormal Story of 2012) by Shim Simplinaĭeath as a personified force has been imagined in many different ways. The popular depiction of Death as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood first arose in 15th century England, while the title “the Grim Reaper” is first attested in 1847. ![]() ![]() God feared that the Samael and Lilith would plague the world with their heinous progenies, and castrated the corrupt angel. He created with her a host of demon children, including a son, Sariel, the “Sword of Samael”. Samael then became the consort of Adam’s first wife, Lilith, who is also his uncircumised sexual partner. He even seduced and impregnated her with Cain. In Jewish lore, Samael was said to be the serpent who tempted Eve into sin. He could be the embodiment of corruption and amorality.Ī trait of Samael different from Satan is that even when depicted as a fallen angel he is said to be under the command of God – as opposed to being a direct enemy. In Hebrew lore, Samael is the prince of demons, and he is known as “ The Venom of God“, and is the executioner of death sentences decreed by God.ĭepending on tradition, Samael can be a fallen angel or he can be seen as an angel who is still loyal to divine law but enforces the darker side of faith (in either form he can be considered an alter-ego of Satan or a unique entity in his own right). Samael, also spelled as Sammael, is a powerful archangel who has had many roles – the most important being that of destruction and death as well as he is an accuser and a seducer – in many ways this makes him similiar to Lucifer, but unlike the almost universally evil depictions of Satan, Samael is regarded as both good and evil. ![]()
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