The phenomenon of death is deeply connected to human life, our intuitions and fears, expectations and perceptions. With our birth, we begin a sublime and painful process of daily transformations, during which fundamental questions about life and our role in the existential drama gradually arise in our consciousness. In this way, we discover new insights but also leave behind old patterns and overcome forms, going through what can be called “small deaths” that are necessary for taking necessary steps in life. Ultimately, death brings us the cessation of all vital functions and the separation of our physical and psychological structures.
Unlike our current civilization’s flight from death, studying past cultures of ancient Egypt, Tibet, China, Japan, Mexico, and other parts of the world leaves us with the impression of their careful approach to the phenomenon of death. In all these cultures, life was understood as preparation for death, and thanks to such attitude, it was important to make use of earthly life in order to achieve something beyond earthly existence. The encounter with death awaited as prepared and aware as possible.
In the worldview of ancient Greece, life and death alternated harmoniously and complemented each other as two poles of a complete circle of existence, like the rhythms of day and night, wakefulness and sleep. The creative forces of the Earth rested in the underworld, and everything that was born returned to it over time, waiting for a new life impulse in a new circle of existence.
In Greek mythology, Thanatos or Thanat is the god of death, more precisely the personification of peaceful death. He is most commonly depicted as a young man with black wings and a extinguished or half-extinguished torch. In early depictions, he is characterized by a beard and a stern expression on his face, as well as a sword with which he is armed. Sometimes he carries a butterfly, an ancient symbol of the transformation of the soul.
The Orphic Hymn to Thanatos
Listen to me, O Thanatos, whose boundless realm
reaches everywhere to all mortal beings!
The duration of the lifetime assigned to us depends on you,
so that your absence prolongs it, and your presence ends it.
Your eternal The dream stops the multitude of lives,
and from them, the soul strives towards the body
that everyone possesses, no matter their age or gender,
because no one can escape your powerful destructive swing.
Not even youth can seek mercy from you.
Fiercely and strongly, you bring premature death to it.
You know the limits of its physical roles,
You have the privilege of a verdict that sets free
and there is no skill or begging that can impose on your wrath
Nor would vows revoke your intention.
O blessed strength, hear my fervent plea,
and prolong human existence to ripe age.
According to Hesiod’s Theogony, at the very beginning of the universe, there was Chaos, the primal source of vital and functional principles. Then came Gaia (Earth – the primordial mother), Tartarus (the negative side of the creative process – the space of disappearance from the world’s stage), and Eros (cosmic love – the embodiment of life-giving force), who represent the first forms of existence. The primordial deities Erebus and Nyx are mentioned as Chaos’ first children. a. Ereb is the personification of darkness and shadow that fills every corner of the world, while Nikta is the goddess of night. Then Tanatos appears as one of their numerous descendants.
Tanatos is associated with the three Moirai, especially with Atropos, and helps fulfill the fate that the Fates have determined for each mortal. He is relentless and merciless, but gentle in touch, unlike his bloodthirsty sisters Kera, the bearers of violent death (death on the battlefield, from disease, accident, and murder). His task is to approach a person on the day of their death, take their soul, and escort it to Hades, the underworld, where they will be judged based on how they carried out their destiny. In later periods of Greek culture, Tanatos’ role was attributed to Hermes Psychopompos, the only god who, along with Hades and Persephone, has the ability to come and go into the underworld without restrictions.
Understanding sleep as a small death, the ancient Greeks connected Tanatos with his brother Hypnos, the god of sleep. While sleep represents a rest from everyday life, daily activities, specifically a form of separating the different levels of our existence (mind from body) with the aim of regeneration and preparation for a new day, death has a similar role at the end of the life cycle.
Hypnos and Thanatos have their gates at the far West, near the courts of Night and Day and the gardens of Hesperides. According to Hesiod’s description in Theogony: They are never seen by the radiant golden rays of Helios, neither when he rises to the sky, nor when he descends from the sky… However, unlike the beautiful winged youth Hypnos, forever smiling, pleasant and well-intentioned, who brings sweet sleep to humans and other creatures, Thanatos has an iron heart and a bronze soul, bringing the cold breath of death. Thus, Thanatos enables the permanent severing of the bond between body and soul, collaborating with time that gnaws away at everything in the concrete, visible world.
Since we do not know what happens to a person’s consciousness after death and what their potential afterlife existence is like, in Western culture, we have developed an extremely negative attitude to fascinantnu avanturu. Sokrat’s path of practicing virtues is an exceptional example of how we can live with dignity and ultimately embrace death, which is nothing but a transition on the river of Life. Aren’t Tanatos’s boundless wings, as indicated by the Orphic hymn, also the ones that help us break free from limitations and move forward in freedom?