Tanatos (gr. Θάνατος Thanatos – "Śmierć") – bożek śmierci, w mitologii Greków syn Nocy i Erebu, bliźniaczy brat Hypnosa, boga snu. Tanatos uosabiał śmierć. Przedstawiano go podobnie jak Hypnosa: jako młodzieńca z czarnymi skrzydłami, lecz z odwróconą, zgaszoną pochodnią. W scenach przedstawiających złożenie ciała do grobu zwykle podtrzymuje nogi zmarłego.
"Tanatos, syn Nocy, zlatuje na czarnych skrzydłach, wchodzi niepostrzeżony do pokoju i złotym nożem odcina konającemu pukiel włosów. W ten sposób, niby kapłan umarłych, poświęca człowieka na ofiarę bóstwom podziemnym i na zawsze odrywa od ziemi." Jan Parandowski, Mitologia.
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In Greek mythology, Thánatos (in Greek, Θάνατος – "Death") was the daemon personification of Death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person. His name is transliterated in Latin as Thanatus, but his Roman equivalent is Mors or Letus/Letum, and he is sometimes identified erroneously with Orcus (Orcus himself had a Greek equivalent in the form of Horkos, God of the Oath).
The Greek poet Hesiod established in his Theogony that Thánatos is a son of Nyx (Night) and Erebos (Darkness) and twin of Hypnos (Sleep).
"And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea's broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods."
"Thanatos : Much talk. Talking will win you nothing. All the same, the woman goes with me to Hades' house. I go to take her now, and dedicate her with my sword, for all whose hair is cut in consecration by this blade's edge are devoted to the gods below." » link ***
