Death (personification)
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other beliefs hold that the spectre of death is only a psychopomp, a benevolent figure who serves to gently sever the last ties between the soul and the body, and to guide the deceased to the afterlife, without having any control over when or how the victim dies. Death is most often personified in male form, although in certain cultures death is perceived as female (for instance, Marzanna in Slavic mythology, or Santa Muerte in Mexico). Death is also portrayed as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Most claims of its appearance occur in states of near-death.[1]
"Grim Reaper" redirects here. For other uses, see Grim Reaper (disambiguation).
Illustration of Petrarch's Triumph of Death
Illustration of Petrarch's Triumph of Death
The Danse Macabre in the Holy Trinity Church in Hrastovlje, Slovenia
Death Tarot card
The Chariot of Death, 1848–1851 painting by Théophile Schuler. Death is depicted both as a beautiful angel and as a hideous skeleton.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Kaufmann Kohler and Ludwig Blau (1901–1906). "Angel of Death". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
