Art, obsession, and identity
The Banshee, now a common fixture in horror stories around the world, is in fact native to Ireland. The word "banshee" originates from the Irish term baintsíde, which roughly translates to "woman of the fairy mound." In old Irish legends, she is the harbinger of death.
The Hindu personification of death comes in the form of the god Yama, usually depicted riding on the back of a bull. Yama is both the messenger of death and the judge of a person's actions during their waking life.
Surely the most iconic and instantly recognizable depiction of death is the Grim Reaper. The shadowy figure, always cloaked in darkness and armed with a scythe and occasionally a lantern, has been a popular depiction of death in Europe since the Middle Ages.
Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations are famous around the world. A common character seen in the parades and pageantry is La Calavera Catrina, which translates to "The Skull Catrina." Catrina's history can be traced back to the Aztecs, but the colorful and vibrant depiction of death that we know today was directly inspired by a painting by José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican artist from the 19th century.
Santa Muerte, or Our Lady of Holy Death, is very similar to La Catrina. Depicted in Mexico and other Central American countries, Santa Muerte is a folk saint who represents not only death but also healing, and safe passage between this world and the next.
In old Lithuanian folklore, death was represented by Giltine, an old, menacing woman, who brought unpleasant death. Giltine wasn't always that way, though. When Giltine was young, she was described as a gentle and beautiful woman who brought soft death to people, until she was trapped in a coffin for seven years and became jaded.
In Chinese Buddhism, King Yanlo is the ruler of the Ten Kings of Hell. Not only does King Yanlo rule Hell, he also presides over the judgments of all the newly deceased who come his way.
The Dullahan, another bringer of death from Irish folklore, is typically described as carrying its head underneath its arm and riding to the houses of a person on their deathbed. Once the Dullahan calls out the person's name, they are said to die instantly.
Hel is the goddess of death from Norse mythology. Sometimes pictured as old and haggardly, other times as young and beautiful, Hel is the daughter of Loki and presides over the region of the underworld also called Hel.
Death took on many new personifications during the Black Plague of the Middle Ages. Along with the Grim Reaper, other skeletal and more malicious forms of death incarnate started to appear.
Mot, sometimes referred to as Maweth, is one of the oldest personifications of death in the world, originally worshipped by the ancient Canaanites in the Middle East.
In countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, death has been depicted as a skeletal figure known as Pietje de Dood, or Peter the Death, for thousands of years.
In Swiss painter Carlos Schwabe's 1895 painting 'Death of the Gravedigger,' death is personified as a gentle, winged being, coming to lead the gravedigger to rest.
Morana is a goddess of winter, death, and rebirth, and goes by numerous names in various Slavic cultures. Annual traditions exist in many regions that involve burning an effigy of Morana.
One of the most famous modern depictions of death comes from Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's groundbreaking 1957 film 'The Seventh Seal.' In the film, which is set during the Black Plague, death is personified as a ghostly man clad in all black, who plays a knight in a game of chess for his life.
The archangel Azrael is the principal angel of death in Islam. He and the many angels of death under him appear to the dying to lead their souls to the next world, and depending on the goodness of the dying, will appear as either a beautiful being or a horrible monster.
Abaddon is the gruesome and violent harbinger of death in old Talmudic lore, whose name in Hebrew translates to "Destroyer." Unlike other, softer bringers of death, Abaddon does not take his lives gently.
Starting around the Middle Ages, the Danse Macabre, or "Dance of Death," became an increasingly common theme in art. Meant as a reminder of the inevitability of death, depictions usually included skull-like personifications of death dancing around a person's grave, as seen here in Michael Wolgemut's 'The Dance of Death.'
In Scottish folklore, the Cù-sìth is a terrifying hound-like creature that roams the Scottish Highlands, occasionally letting out three ear-splitting barks. Anyone within earshot who doesn't escape the sound by the time of the third bark is, according to legend, overcome with a sense of fear that eventually leads them to death.
Ankou is a messenger of death who appears in various cultures across the British Isles and historical Normandy. In some versions of the myth, Ankou is personified by the first person of the year to die, who is then tasked with collecting the souls of all who die after them before being able to pass on themselves.
Death, as depicted in Joseph Wright's Enlightenment painting from 1774, takes on the simple form of a bare skeleton, terrifying to the old man in part due to its realism and partly because of the man's unwillingness to be led out of the world of the living.
In Léon Lhermitte's 1893 painting 'Death and the Woodcutter,' death appears as a ghostly, spectral figure temporarily visiting the world of the living to escort the weary woodcutter to the other side.
In legendary Austrian artist Gustav Klimt's painting 'Death and Life,' completed in 1915, death is depicted as a sinister, skeletal figure cloaked in a robe, waiting for his moment to strike and take the living away.
Sources: (Narrative Painting) (Babbel) (Listverse)
See also: The most ridiculous deaths in history
In Polish symbolist painter Jacek Malczewski's 1902 painting, simply titled 'Death,' death is drawn in a gentle, merciful light, not making use of her scythe but instead quietly answering the prayers of the old man.
Guatemala's folk saint of death, San Pascualito is also known as the King of the Graveyard. Although today he is usually depicted as similar to the Grim Reaper in appearance, he was originally modeled after the Spanish saint Paschal Baylón (pictured).
Thanatos, the son of Nyx and Erebus, goddess and god of the night and darkness, respectively, was the Greek god of death. However, he was a god of peaceful death, and took mortals away from the realm of the living with the same gentleness and quiet as his parents.
In Japanese folk mythology, shinigami are spirits, not necessarily malicious or evil, that coax humans towards death and the underworld when it is time for them to pass.
In his 1844 painting 'The Uninvited Guest,' German realist painter Adolph Menzel uses the common European trope of death as a skeleton, but modernizes the depiction by putting death in modern and professional attire, suggesting that death is, although uninvited, a respectful and sympathetic guest.
Originating in the Book of Revelations in the Bible's New Testament, the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, or the Pale Rider, is usually depicted wielding a scythe atop a massive horse, alongside his fellow apocalyptic horsemen Conquest, War, and Hunger.
These personifications give us a unique and fascinating view into how different cultures and people have thought about death over time. Click to know more.
How different cultures have personified death
A look at death in the myths and arts of various civilizations
LIFESTYLE History
For as long as humans have roamed the earth, death has been a part of human society and culture. It is an inevitable aspect of existence that we all must face one day, but the way death is treated and depicted varies greatly across cultures and history. Sometimes death is celebrated as a release, other times it is met with dismay as a terrible punishment. People's ideas of the experience of death have influenced the way it is personified in religion, folklore, and art for thousands of years. These personifications give us a unique and fascinating view into how different cultures and people have thought about death over time.
Intrigued? Read on to see how death has been depicted throughout the ages.