Thanatos Thanatos In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; , pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω "thnēskō" "to die, be dying") was the 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 equivalent in Roman mythology is "Mors" or Letum. Mors is sometimes erroneously identified with Orcus, whose Greek equivalent was 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). Homer also confirmed Hypnos
Greek mythology libretti for many of Handel's and Mozart's operas. By the end of the 18th century, Romanticism initiated a surge of enthusiasm for all things Greek, including Greek mythology. In Britain, new translations of Greek tragedies and Homer inspired contemporary poets (such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Keats, Byron and Shelley) and painters (such as Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema). Christoph Gluck, Richard Strauss, Jacques Offenbach and many others set Greek mythological themes to music. American authors of the 19th century, such as Thomas Bulfinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, held that the study of the classical myths was essential to the understanding of