Thanatos is a god personifying death in the mythology of ancient Greece. Most often depicted as a young man in a black cloak with wings behind his back, holding an extinguished torch in his hand, as a symbol of a dying life.
Thanatos in art
A huge part of the works of masters of ancient Greece was devoted to myths - these are sculptures, and paintings, and murals, and vessels. In modern culture, we can also find works on the theme of myths. In addition, the image of death for many artists is very attractive.
The image on the left shows Eros and Thanatos, the Life Instinct and the Death Instinct, modern sculpture. On the right is Thanatos, a bas-relief on a marble column in the temple of Artemis.
Every rich, self-respecting person was obliged to have painted vessels and vases in his house, on which various scenes from the mythology and life of the ancient Greeks were immortalized by masters.
The vessel shown below depicts the twin brothers Hypnos (left) and Thanatos (right), taking the warrior of Sarpedon from the battlefield. That is how the Greeks imagined Thanatos.
Thanatos in mythology
Thanatos is the son of Nikta (Nyukta, Nyx) and the god of darkness Erebus. Nikta is the goddess of the night, the mother of Thanatos and Aether (eternal light), Hemera (daylight) and Kera (annihilation), as well as Hypnos (dream), Eris (contention), Apta (deception) and many others.
The god of death lives in Tartarus, but usually lives near the throne of the god of the kingdom of the dead, Hades. He also has a twin brother, Hypnos, which you already read about above. Hypnosis is the god who always accompanies Death, bringing sleep on his wings. He is calm and supportive of people. The goddesses of fate, Moira and Nemesis (the goddess of justice) were their sisters.
The only god who does not recognize gifts is Thanatos. Mythology also reports that he had an iron heart, and he was the object of hatred of all Greek gods.
When the life span assigned to man by the moira goddesses of fate ended, Thanatos appeared to the man. This meant imminent death. True, in each rule there are exceptions, but about them later. According to legend, the god of death cut off a strand of hair with his sword from the dying to dedicate it to Hades, and then carried the souls to the kingdom of the dead.
How Hercules defeated Death
The ancient Greeks believed that the death of a person depends only on Thanatos, that only he is free to decide whether to kill or keep alive. That is, he could well give someone a second chance at life, or he could be persuaded to do so.
King Admet and his wife Alkesta (Alkestida) were the happiest, loving and richest people in Thessaly. But then Admet sharply and very seriously ill, cannot move his arms or legs, falls into unconsciousness. Alkeste can only pray to the gods that her beloved husband will recover. She prayed that the death god Thanatos would withdraw her heavy hand from her husband. It worked.
However, instead of Admet, someone else should go to the kingdom of the dead. And neither parents nor friends dared to accept death for the beautiful Admet. Alkesta had to take a hit on herself, and she died.
Admet recovered, but could not find a place for himself, always sad and mourned for his wife. At this time, Hercules comes to visit him. First, Admet pretends that nothing happened, and then runs out of the hall in tears. Then Hercules and learns the sad story of the king from his old servant and decides to save Alkesta, causing the fight Thanatos. He defeated him, never touching the body of the god of death, because there was an opinion that just touching Thanatos would take his life. And then he demanded the return of Alkestida. There was nothing left for the death god except consent, otherwise Hercules would pierce his neck with his sword. Alkestida returned to her husband from the kingdom of the dead. Hercules defeated Death.
Below is a picture of Frederick Leighton on the theme of this myth, but on it Hercules still touches Thanatos.
How Sisyphus Tricked Death
Sisyphus is a Corinthian king who twice deceived death. Once, Zeus sent Thanatos to Sisyphus, who was supposed to take the life and soul of Sisyphus, as befits the death god. But the cunning ruler of Corinth was not at a loss and fraudulently chained the death god himself with chains - he only asked to explain how to use them.
And the angry Thanatos remained in captivity at Sisyphus for several years. This contributed to the fact that God could not fulfill his functions, and people simply became immortal. Even if the person was beheaded, he remained alive. The wounded could not die. I wonder how in a couple of years the gods of Olympus could not notice this? Hades was the first to be furious when he finally realized that souls did not enter his kingdom. And then the gods sent Ares to free Poor Thanatos.
Sisyphus for such an act was immediately taken to the kingdom of the dead, however, even here he was able to sparkle with cunning. Before his death, the king asked his wife not to perform funeral rites and not to make sacrifices. Sisyphus asked the death god for a three-day delay to punish his wife for such an offense, but, as already guessed, did not return, and Hermes had to catch him.
And Sisyphus was severely punished by Hades for his actions. It is about him phraseology "Sisyphean labor." Its task is to roll a huge boulder to the top of the mountain, but every time a stone breaks almost at the very top, and Sisyphus needs to start all over again. Don’t joke with death, right?
Thanatos in psychology
Many philosophers of different times puzzled over what drives the life of a person. The famous psychologist and psychiatrist Sigmund Freud also thought about this issue and decided to study it in more detail.
Freud began to consider the primary drives driving life, concepts such as the "instinct of life" and the "instinct of death" - Eros and Thanatos. Freud writes that on the basis of these two instincts the whole life of a person is built.
They constantly interact with each other. Thanks to Eros, culture develops, because the instinct of life and love helps people interact with each other and unite in a family, people, state. The misfortunes, devastation, and horror that the First World War brought testify to man’s inclinations to cruelty, aggression, and self-destruction, which prompted Freud to think about the "death instinct."
"The goal of all life is death," said Freud, Eros and Thanatos are constantly fighting each other. To agree with this or not is up to you.
A few words about mythology
Greek mythology, like any other, carries a lot of information about the people, among the beautiful fairy tales any lessons are hidden (remember the story with Sisyphus, who played with death?). Myths are easy to remember, because they have a huge number of simple and understandable images.
Mythology served as an impetus for the development of art, this theme was very popular among creators of different times and peoples. So read, study, look and think.