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 theology (which also affect the interpretation of Virgil). In Saturnalia reappear mythographical comments influenced by the Euhemerists, the Stoics and the Neoplatonists. The genesis of modern understanding of Greek mythology is regarded by some scholars as a double reaction at the end of the eighteenth century against "the traditional attitude of Christian animosity", in which the Christian reinterpretation of myth as a "lie" or fable had been retained. In Germany, by about 1795, there was a growing interest in Homer and Greek mythology. In Göttingen, Johann Matthias Gesner began to revive Greek studies, while his successor, Christian Gottlob Heyne, worked