Editing Thanatos (section)

== In art==
[[File:Hypnos Thanatos BM Vase D56 full.jpg|thumb|[[Hypnos]] and Thanatos carrying the body of [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]] from [[Iliad|the battlefield]] of [[Troy]]; detail from an Attic [[white-ground]] [[lekythos]], ca. 440 BC.]]
[[File:3307 - Athens - Stoà of Attalus Museum - Eros - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 9 2009.jpg|thumb|right|237px|Winged ''Eros Thanatos'', with reversed torch and crossed legs (3rd century BC, [[Stoa of Attalus]], Athens)]]
An [[Orphic Hymn]] that invoked Thanatos, here given in late 18th century translation:
<blockquote><poem>To Death, Fumigation from Manna.

Hear me, O Death, whose empire unconfin'd
extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind.
On thee, the portion of our time depends,
whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.

Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds
by which the soul, attracting body holds:
common to all, of ev'ry sex and age,
for nought escapes thy all-destructive rage.

Not youth itself thy clemency can gain,
vigorous and strong, by thee untimely slain.
In thee the end of nature's works is known,
in thee all judgment is absolved alone.
No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage controul,
no vows revoke the purpose of thy soul.
O blessed power, regard my ardent prayer,
and human life to age abundant spare.<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Taylor|title=The Hymns of Orpheus: Tr. from the Original Greek: with a Preliminary Dissertation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUFFAAAAMAAJ|year=1792|publisher=B. White and Sons|pages=224–228}}</ref></poem></blockquote>

In later eras, as the transition from life to death in [[Elysium]] became a more attractive option, Thanatos came to be seen as a beautiful [[Ephebos|Ephebe]]. He became associated more with a gentle passing than a woeful demise. Many Roman sarcophagi depict him as a winged boy, very much akin to [[Eros (mythology)|Cupid]]: "Eros with crossed legs and torch reversed became the commonest of all symbols for Death", observes [[Arthur Bernard Cook]].<ref>Cook, ''Zeus: A study in ancient religion'', 1940:1045., citing Adolf Furtwängler, in Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, ''Ausführliches Lexikon der grieschischen und römischen Mythologie''.</ref>

Thanatos has also been portrayed as a slumbering infant in the arms of his mother Nyx, or as a youth carrying a [[butterfly]] (the ancient Greek word "ψυχή" can mean soul or butterfly, or life, amongst other things) or a wreath of [[poppy|poppies]] (poppies were associated with Hypnos and Thanatos because of their [[hypnogogic]] traits and the eventual death engendered by overexposure to them).

He is often shown carrying an inverted torch (holding it upside down in his hands), representing a life extinguished. He is usually described as winged and with a sword sheathed at his belt. In [[Euripides]]' ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'' (438 BCE), he is depicted dressed in black and carrying a sword. Thanatos was rarely portrayed in art without his twin brother Hypnos.

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ancientstandard.com/2007/08/30/euphronios-krater-the-continuing-saga-ca-515-bc/|title=Euphronios Krater: The Continuing Saga (ca. 515 BC) – Ancient History Blog|website=ancientstandard.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-09-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Von Bothner|first=Dietrich|date=1987|title=Euphronios and Memnon? Observations on a Red-figures fragment|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/journals/1/pdf/1512832.pdf.bannered.pdf|journal=Metropolitan Museum Journal}}</ref>  Here he is pictured as a full-grown and bearded man with wings, as is his brother.

[[File:Hermes e Sarpedon.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Hypnos]] (left) and Thanatos (right) carrying dead [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]], while [[Hermes]] watches. Inscriptions in [[ancient Greek]] read HVPNOS-HERMES-θΑΝΑΤΟS (here written vice versa). [[Attica|Attic]] [[Red-figure pottery|red-figured]] [[Krater#Calyx krater|calyx]]-[[krater]], 515 BC.]]