In A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. 454 ff : [10], In Hesiod's Theogony (270–273), Enyo also was the name of one of the Graeae, three sisters who shared one eye and one tooth among them; the other sisters were Deino ("Dread") and Pemphredo ("Alarm"). . see how even now he is wildly tossing his head at the outset, and rolling his eyes fiercely from side to side without a word; nor can he control his panting breath, like a fearful bull in act to charge; he bellows, calling on the Keres of Tartaros.’", Sophocles, Oedipus the King 463 ff (Greek tragedy C5th B.C) : Also, when Achilles and Hector were about to engage in a fight to the death, the god Zeus weighed both warriors' keres to determine who shall die. ", Homer, Odyssey 11. Cicero translates the name Keres as Tenebrae (Darknesses) in Latin.]. the boy's father, a priest of Hephaistos] might not be left altogether desolate. ", Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 13. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "[The ghost of Laios (Laius) demands Oidipous (Oedipus) be expelled from Thebes before he will recall the pestilence daimones ravaging the land back to Haides :] Then with a sudden hand some Blessed One swept the dust-pall aside; and the Gods saw the deadly Keres (Deaths) hurling the charging lines together, in the unending wrestle locked of that grim conflict, saw where never ceased Ares from hideous slaughter, saw the earth crimsoned all round with rushing streams of blood. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) 681 ff, trans. Quezon City: Capitol Publishing House Inc. Bimmolog, H., Sallong, L., Montemayor, L. (2005). "After consulting his mistress Ereshkigal, the queen of the Nether World, he admits Ishtar" Kramer, "Ishtar in the Nether World According to a New Sumerian Text", The dwelling one went to after death varied depending on where one died, at the battlefield or not. This warrior goddess is associated with death in a way much like the Norse goddess Freya. (18.5), Meng Po actually serves in Diyu the Chinese Kingdom of the dead. Because of her association with war and battles, she is also known as a great warrior who determines which warriors walk off the battlefield. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C6th B.C.) : Zeus and the other gods, however, could stop them in their course or speed them on. "The dark Keres (Deaths) stand beside us, one holding grievous old age as the outcome, the other death. She prepared a special herbal tea and this is to give each soul to drink before they leave Diyu. (Il. However, shinigami are more like Grim Reapers with freakish appearances than deities who are worshiped. 2) (trans. : (18.12), 10 Most Bizarre Cases Of Dying While Having Sex. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. Ifrits – (Arabic) Evil, hideous spectres. Hunger, pestilence, madness,. "[From a war-scene depicted on the shield of Akhilleus (Achilles) :] The other army, as soon as they heard the uproar arising . According to a statement of Stesichorus noted by Eustathius, Stesichorus "called the Keres by the name Telchines", whom Eustathius identified with the Kuretes of Crete, who could call up squalls of wind and would brew potions from herbs (noted in Harrison, p 171). Folk-Islam in Maranao Society. In polytheistic religions which have a complex system of deities governing various natural phenomena and aspects of human life, it is common to have a deity who is assigned the function of presiding over death. The Celts had a simple way to manage the delicate line of balance between life and death: get yourself a goddess that serves the purpose of both! 614 ff : Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 228. 6; Eustath. Emperor(s) of Youdu (Capital City of the Underworld). 535), and in most cases the word may be taken as a common noun. [8], As the son of Aeolus (and thus a descendant of the Titan Prometheus), Sisyphus was a more-than-mortal figure: when it came to ordinary humans, Thanatos was usually thought of as inexorable. : Mimnermus, Fragment 2 (from Stobaeus, Anthology) (trans. She covered both her cheeks with a fold of her purple mantle, and Iason (Jason) led her by the hand as she passed across the benches. 12, lxvi. 687 ff : When Thanatos ascended from Hades to claim Alkestis, Heracles sprung upon the god and overpowered him, winning the right to have Alkestis remain, while Thanatos fled, cheated of his quarry. Another spirit, Thanatos, was the god of non-violent death. Despite their Western origin, many people will refer to both the Death Note characters and the folklorical shinigami using the Japanese name instead of the English translation or even "Grim Reaper". This Chinese Goddess appears as an old woman. Also [in the plural] Keres, death-bringing fates. Hesiod, Theogony 211 ff (trans. give ear to my prayers and ward off the evil Keres (Deaths). From Gaia to Kali; every goddess in mythologies have a prominent role to create or restore the balance in nature and the universe. . The term colloquially refers to deities that either collect or rule over the dead, rather than those deities who determine the time of death. . [N.B. (18.7), In the Norse mythology, Hel is the ruler of underworld and death. Beside them raged the ruthless-hearted Keres (Deaths) fiercely: here Phobos (Panic-fear) and Ares there stirred up the hosts: hard after followed Deimos (Dread) with slaughter's gore besprent, that in one host might men see, and be strong, in the other fear. He is described as a minor and barely appearing in person but if you refer to the Greek vase painting, Thanatos appears as a bearded old … 11 (trans. (1917). "Ennomos (Ennomus) the augur, was lord of the Mysians; yet his reading of birds could not keep off dark Ker (Death) but he went down under the hands of swift-running Aiakides (Aeacides) [Akhilleus (Achilles)] in the river, as he slew other Trojans beside him. Despite being a God of Death, he often described as Lord of Love in ancient times. 650 ff : Relation of the Filipinas Islands. And they [the Keres] all made a fierce fight over one poor wretch, glaring evilly at one another with furious eyes and fighting equally with claws and hands. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C6th to 5th B.C.) Sulod Society. A parallel, and equally unusual personification of "the baleful Ker" is in Homer's depiction of the Shield of Achilles (Iliad,ix.410ff), which is the model for the Shield of Heracles. 454, xviii. Samhara Kali is the chief goddess of Tantric texts. "[Odysseus addresses the Greek army at Troy :] ‘You are all witnesses, whom the Keres (Death-Spirits) have not carrried away from us.’", Homer, Iliad 2. Press. . People often involve the God of death into mythology and religion. Their Roman equivalents were Letum (“death”) or the Tenebrae (“shadows”). : Aeschylus, Fragment 41 Threissae (from Scholiast on Sophocles, Ajax 833) (trans. The term Keres has also been cautiously used to describe a person's fate. Ye blasting Fatae (Fates) [Keres], thou quaking terror of Morbus (Disease) [Nosos], Macies (Wasting) [Ischnasia], and black Pestis (Pestilence) [Nosos], and mad Dolor (Despair) [Algos], come ye with me, with me. Religion: Greek Mythology According to Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personified spirit of the god of non-violent death. In the first campaign of the roleplaying adventure podcast The Adventure Zone, the character Kravitz is a bounty hunter who apprehends people disrupting the natural order of life and death. . All they could do was wait for them to die and then they could feast on the dead. ", Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1. ], Suidas s.v. Many people incorporated the Deity of death and underworld into their mythology and religion. : However, the term deities of death and destruction often referred to someone who rules over the death and determines the time of the death. 326 ff : 515 BC) – Ancient History Blog", "Euphronios and Memnon? Maca, the realm of the good dead, is jointly ruled by Sitan and Bathala. Also deadly Nyx bare Nemesis (Envy) to afflic… Vellacott, Greek tragedy c. 5th century BC, "Euphronios Krater: The Continuing Saga (ca. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : 3) (trans. (Od. Thanatos was thus regarded as merciless and indiscriminate, hated by – and hateful towards — mortals and gods alike. . Latin writers usually translate Thanatos as Mors and Ker as Letum. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) Each of them belongs to different mythology and their story will amaze you both in a positive and negative way. extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind. Kali, whose name literally means “The Dark One”, is the Goddess of death and destruction, time and change, as well as being known as a Mother Goddess. Alcaeus, Fragment 38a, trans. (18.11). In the fifth century, Keres were portrayed as small winged sprites in vase-paintings adduced by J.E. Death is the protagonist in the science fantasy novel On a Pale Horse, book one in a series of 8 books, the "Incarnations of Immortality". Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : Homer, Iliad 2. "[Paris, mortally wounded, begs Oinone (Oenone) heal him :] ‘My queen, I sinned, in folly sinned; yet from the Keres (Deaths) save me--oh, make haste to save!’", Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 10. Thanatology is the academic and scientific study of death among human beings. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. ‘Morrigan’ means great queen, with this name being fitting for the deity that rules over both life and death. 249, &c.) They are mentioned by later writers together with the Erinnyes as the goddesses who avenge the crimes of men. . Thanatos had come to take the soul of Alkestis, who had offered her life in exchange for the continued life of her husband, King Admetos of Pherai. Unknown. She is called the "sister of War" by Quintus Smyrnaeus,[1] in a role closely resembling that of Eris, the embodiment of strife and discord, with Homer, in particular, representing the two as the same goddess. Harrison observed (Harrison 1903, p 169), but two Keres might not be averted, and these, which emerged from the swarm of lesser ills, were Old Age and Death. Enyo (/ɪˈnaɪoʊ/; Ancient Greek: Ἐνυώ Enȳō) was a goddess of war in Classical Greek mythology. ", Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. "[The Trojan Agenor speaks :] ‘He [Akhilleus (Achilles)] might see me . Thanatos is also famously shown on the Euphronios Krator where he and his brother Hypnos are shown carrying the body of Sarpedon to his home for burial. Enyo (Greek) – Goddess of Destructive warfare and sibling/partner of the war God Ares. "[Lyssa, daimona of madness, stalks Herakles (Heracles) :] ‘The thunderbolt with blast of agony shall be like the headlong rush I will make into the breast of Herakles; through his roof will I burst my way and swoop upon his house,after first slaying his children; nor shall their murderer know that he is killing the children he begot, till he is released from my madness. He became associated more with a gentle passing than a woeful demise. 190 ff : xiii. But even his strong legs could not support him long; he began to sway, all power went out of him, and he came down with a resounding crash. Martin, the guild of assassins known as the Faceless Men believe that all death deities are simply different incarnations of the same god, known to them as the Many-Faced God or Him of Many Faces, while the Faith of the Seven worships The Stranger as one of Seven Aspects of God representing Death and the Unknown. Sisyphus would evade Death a second time by convincing Persephone to allow him to return to his wife stating that she never gave him a proper funeral. A fragment of Alcaeus, a Greek lyric poet of the 6th century BC, refers to this episode: "King Sisyphos, son of Aiolos, wisest of men, supposed that he was master of Thanatos; but despite his cunning he crossed eddying Akheron twice at fate's command." Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.)