Legends in Stone
Plate XXXIUnderworldDeath

Thanatos&Mors

Death, Sleep, & the Gentle End

Graecia

Thanatos

The Gentle Brother

Sacred Attributes

Inverted torch, butterfly, poppy, wings

Historical Origins

Son of Nyx and twin of Hypnos; the personification of death itself.

Personality & Character

Cold and pitiless, yet strangely gentle — he is defeated more than once.

Cult & Sacrifice

None; he was feared and avoided, not courted.

Cultural Ethos

Death as a person you can argue with, and occasionally outwit.

Roma

Mors

Mors, the Final Necessity

Sacred Attributes

Inverted torch, hourglass, scythe

Historical Origins

A Latin abstraction of death, appearing mainly in poetry and on sarcophagi.

Personality & Character

An impersonal, legalistic necessity with no personality at all.

Cult & Sacrifice

None.

Cultural Ethos

Death as a fact of law and nature, not a god with a grudge.

Syncretism Analysis

Greek Thanatos is a character you can wrestle — Sisyphus chained him, and Heracles overpowered him. Roman Mors is a bare abstraction. Rome removed the personality from death and left only the obligation.

Modern Reception

HadesVideo GameGod of WarVideo GamePercy Jackson & the OlympiansNovel

Elsewhere in Underworld