Folklore:European> Greek Mythos: Thanatos — Hesiod’s Theogony: Establishes son of Nyx (darkness) and Erebos(darkness), with twin Hypnos(sleep). Note: Connection of Sleep and Death.
"And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea's broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods." (Hesiod, Theogony 758 ff, trans. Evelyn-White, Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.)
Confirmation by Homer of twin status in Iliad. "Then [Apollon] gave him [Sarpedon] into the charge of swift messengers to carry him, of Hypnos and Thanatos, who are twin brothers, and these two presently laid him down within the rich countryside of broad Lykia." (Homer, Iliad 16. 681 ff)
Other siblings included other negative personifications of archetypes (old age, suffering, doom, deception, etc.).
Atropos — One of the three Moirae. Oldest of the three, chose the mechanism of death and did the cutting with the shears of the mortal threads.
Keres/Ceres — Female death spirits. Whereas Thanatos is peaceful death, they are violent death. Association with Ceberus.
Shield of Heracles (248-57):"The black Dooms gnashing their white teeth, grim-eyed, fierce, bloody, terrifying fought over the men who were dying for they were all longing to drink dark blood. As soon as they caught a man who had fallen or one newly wounded, one of them clasped her great claws around him and his soul went down to Hades, to chilly Tartarus. And when they had satisfied their hearts with human blood, they would throw that one behind them and rush back again into the battle and the tumult."
Anaplekte — (Quick,Painful Death) (?)
Charon — Navigator of the river Styx
Probably should focus on Thanatos and Charon, but the Fates are also important.
> Norse: Valkiries — “Chooser of the Slain”[1]. Not really a singular death god from what I can tell.
> Slavic folklore (woman in white, green sprout in one hand that caused everlasting sleep — Bad sources, Russian Primary Chronicle: Humanities (5th ave and 42nd st)- General Research- Rm315 Call Number JFF 99-1147) — Flins (Death), Peklenc (Underworld) Talk page on wikipedia says goddess of death is named Nyja, but no source.
“Marzanna is the personification of death and winter. She is portrayed as an old woman dressed in white. People sought to trick her and thereby prolong their lives.[2]”
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African> Egyptian: Osiris
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Asian> India/China/Japan: Yama
> Japan: Shingami
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Americas> North America:> Inca:> Mayan:> Aztec: Xiutecuhtli “Turquoise Lord” (aka Ixcozauhqui and Huehueteotl “old God” ) God of life after death, warmth in cold, light in darkness and food during famine. Ur-god according to Codex Fejervary-Mayer.
From wikipedia: In Aztec mythology, Mictlan was the lowest (ninth) level of the underworld, located far to the north. Except for warriors who died in battle, people who died when hit by lightning and women who died in childbirth, people went to Mictlan after death. The journey was difficult and took four years, but the dead were aided by the psychopomp, Xolotl.
The king of Mictlan was Mictlantecuhtli. The queen was Mictecacihuatl. Other deities in Mictlan included Cihuacoatl (who commanded Mictlan spirits called Cihuateteo), Acolmiztli, Chalmecacihuilt, Chalmecatl and Acolnahuacatl.
From
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1994/3/94.03.03.x.html#b : The Aztecs believed in a heaven and an underworld. There were thirteen levels of heaven and nine of the underworld. There were also four horizontal points which corresponded to the directions of the compass and were associated with the four creator gods. All beings were assigned to one of these four points, depending on the day one was born. The earth was believed to be a large disc surrounded by water at the point where the horizontal and vertical met. The Lord and Lady of Duality, mentioned earlier also were the rulers of this central point (Bray 1968: 155).
The Aztecs believed that where you went after death depended upon what you did on earth and how you died. The eastern paradise, the “house of the sun” was the home of the souls of warrior who were killed in combat. This also included the souls of enemy warriors who had a special “god of the enemy dead.” Sacrificed victims went there also. It was believed that souls stayed in the eastern paradise for four years, and then they returned to earth as hummingbirds or other exotic birds.
The western paradise, the house of corn, was believed to be for women who died in childbirth. They also returned to earth as phantoms of bad omens. The paradise of Tlaloc, the southern paradise was for people who died of lightening, leprosy or other sickness. This was a place of plentiful food.
The paradise of the north was for the rest of the dead. It was called Mictlan (MEEK tlahn) and getting there involved going through nine trials and took four years to accomplish.
The Aztec accounts of the trials a soul must go through to get to Mictlan are as follows:
1) cross a deep river—dogs were buried with their dead owners to guide them on this journey.
2) pass between two mountains which were joined together
3) climb an obsidian mountain
4) pass through icy wind that cut like a knife
5) pass through a place where flags waved
6) be pierced by arrows
7) pass among wild beasts which ate human hearts
8 ) pass over a narrow path of stone
9) reach this level where the soul found rest.
In order to make this trip, people were buried in a squatting position with items to help them on the way. These included water, the dog (tawny in color) mentioned at the first level of hell, a jade bead to act as the dead’s heart at the seventh hell and other personal objects to give to Mictlantecuhtli (meek tlahn tay COO flee), god of the dead, or Mictecacihuatl (meek tay kah SEE wahtl), mistress of the underworld, when they got to the ninth region.
There were thirteen heavens. Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the creator gods, lived in the double twelfth and thirteenth heavens. It was believed that the souls of babies went there was well as the souls of men waiting to be reincarnated upon the destruction of the human race (Caso 1958: 64).
Agriculture was the primary focus of the Aztec religion and the forces of water and earth were directly related to agricultural fertility. The Aztecs saw human life metaphorically—like maize or a flower. Man was born to die, but carried the seed of reproduction (Miller and Taube 1993: 31). Therefore, ceremonies dealt with life—not afterlife—to ensure health, fertility and to avoid natural disasters.
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Abrahamic Traditions> Christianity: Angel of Death
> Judaism:> Islam: Azrael (?) (raphael)
Hazrat uzair
Izrah
[1] Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0 304 34520 2 Page 172
[2]
http://www.winterscapes.com/slavic.htm