List of death deities explained

The mythology or religion of most cultures incorporate a god of death or, more frequently, a divine being closely associated with death, an afterlife, or an underworld. They are often amongst the most powerful and important entities in a given tradition, reflecting the fact that death, like birth, is central to the human experience. In religions where a single god is the primary object of worship, the representation of death is usually that god's antagonist, and the struggle between the two is central to the folklore of the culture. In such dualistic models, the primary deity usually represents good, and the death god embodies evil. Similarly, death worship is used as a derogatory term to accuse certain groups of morally abhorrent practices which set no value on human life. In monotheistic religions, death is commonly personified by an angel or demon standing in opposition to the god.

Occurrence

In polytheistic religions which have a complex system of deities governing various natural phenomena and aspects of human life, it is common to have a deity who is assigned the function of presiding over death. This deity may actually take the life of humans or, more commonly, simply rule over the afterlife in that particular belief system (a single religion may have separate deities performing both tasks). The deity in question may be good, evil, or neutral and simply doing their job, in sharp contrast to a lot of modern portrayals of death deities as all being inherently evil just because death is feared. Hades from Greek mythology is an especially common target. The inclusion of such a "departmental" deity of death in a religion's pantheon is not necessarily the same thing as the glorification of death.

A death deity has a good chance of being either male or female, unlike some functions that seem to steer towards one gender in particular, such as fertility and earth deities being female and storm deities being male. A single religion/mythology may have death gods of more than one gender existing at the same time and they may be envisioned as a married couple ruling over the afterlife together, as with the Aztecs, Greeks, and Romans.

In monotheistic religions, the one god governs both life and death (as well as everything else). However, in practice this manifests in different rituals and traditions and varies according to a number of factors including geography, politics, traditions, and the influence of other religions.

Africa and the Middle East

Sub-Sahara Africa

Igbo

Yoruba

Akan

Afroasiatic Africa

Somali

Afroasiatic Middle East

Canaanite

Egyptian

Mesopotamian

Western Eurasia

European

Albanian

Balto-Finnic

Balto-Slavic

Basque

Celtic

Germanic

See also: Death in Norse paganism.

Etruscan

Greek

  1. Acheron, god of the river Acheron
  2. Alpheus, god of the river Alpheus
  3. Cocytus, god of the river Cocytus
  4. Eridanos, god of the river Eridanos
  5. Lethe, goddess of the river Lethe
  6. Phlegethon, god of the river Phlegethon
  7. Styx, goddess of the river Styx, a river that formed a boundary between the living and the dead

Roman

Western Asia

Elamite

Hindu-Vedic

Persian-Zoroastrian

Ossetian

Uralic

Asia-Pacific / Oceania

Far East Asia

Korean

Chinese

Emperor(s) of Youdu (Capital City of the Underworld)

Judges of the Ten Underworld Courts

The rest only have surnames including Li, Yu, Lu, Bi, Lu and Xue.

Four Kings of the Underworld

Ghost Kings of the Five Regions

Ghost Kings of the Five Regions (Ver.2)

Governors of Fengdu

Imperial Censor of Fengdu

Four Generals of the Direct Altar of Fengdu

Eight Generals of the Inner Altar of Fengdu

Eight Generals of the Outer Altar of Fengdu

Ten Masters of the Underworld

(Note: in some versions, Xie Bi'an and Fanjiu are the Bai Wuchang and Hei Wuchang, respectively.)

Four Strongmen of Fengdu

Two Agents of Fengdu

Wardens of the Nine Prison of Fengdu

Administers of the Six Paths of Rebirth of Fengdu

Judges of Fengdu

Japanese

North and Central Asian mythology

Oceanian mythology

Southeast Asian mythology

Philippines

See main article: article and List of Philippine mythological figures.

Vietnam

American mythology

Aztec

Cahuilla

Guarani

Haida

Inca

Inuit

Latin American Folk Catholicism

Maya

Narragansett

Taíno

Umbanda and Candomblé

Haitian Vodou

Gede lwa

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anubis - Anubis AKA Inpu, Anupu, or Ienpw . 2012-10-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121026102721/http://www.anubis.org/anubis.html . 2012-10-26 .
  2. Web site: Anubis - Osiris AKA Un-nefer, or Khenti-Amentiu . 2012-10-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120526201755/http://www.anubis.org/osiris.html . 2012-05-26 .
  3. "The counterpart to these deities of sky, air, water, and earth was the underworld, the realm of the dead, originally seen as ruled by the powerful Goddess Ereshkigal." Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  4. "After consulting his mistress Ereshkigal, the queen of the Nether World, he admits Ishtar" Kramer, "Ishtar in the Nether World According to a New Sumerian Text" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 1940. Google scholar results as the JSTOR link is unlikely to be universally available.
  5. F. Wiggermann, Transtigridian Snake Gods [in:] I. L. Finkel, M. J. Geller (eds.), Sumerian Gods and their Representations, 1997, p. 34
  6. M. Krebernik, dU.GUR [in] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol 14, 2014, p. 297
  7. F. Wiggerman, Nergal A. philologisch [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 9, 1998, p. 220
  8. [Stephan Grundy|Kveldulf Gundarsson]
  9. The dwelling one went to after death varied depending on where one died, at the battlefield or not. If not at the battlefield, one would go to Hel (not to be confused with the Christian Hell). Of the slain at the battlefield, some went to Fólkvangr, the dwelling of Freyja and some went to Valhalla, the dwelling of Odin (see Grímnismál). The ninth hall is Folkvang, where bright Freyja. Decides where the warriors shall sit. Some of the fallen belong to her. And some belong to Odin.
  10. Web site: HADES (Haides) - Greek God of the Dead, King of the Underworld (Roman Pluto). Theoi.com. 6 November 2021.
  11. Web site: MACARIA (Makaria) - Greek Goddess of Blessed Death. Theoi.com. 25 March 2018.
  12. Web site: Classical Mythology: Hades Takes a Wife: Persephone. InfoPlease. 25 March 2018.
  13. Web site: THANATOS - Greek God of Death (Roman Mors). Theoi.com. 25 March 2018.
  14. Book: Jaimoukha, Amjad M.. The Chechens: a handbook. Routledge. 2005-03-01. 1st. 110. 978-0-415-32328-4. 2009-08-14.
  15. Web site: KALMA - the Finnish Goddess of Death (Finnish mythology). godchecker.com. 25 March 2018.
  16. Web site: TUONI - the Finnish God of the Underworld (Finnish mythology). godchecker.com. 25 March 2018.
  17. Jocano, F. L. (1969). Philippine Mythology. Quezon City: Capitol Publishing House Inc.
  18. Bimmolog, H., Sallong, L., Montemayor, L. (2005). The Deities of the Animistic Religion of Mayaoyao, Ifugao.
  19. Cayat, G. C. Manuscript on Kalanguya Cultural Communities. National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
  20. Arbues, L. R. (1960). Philippine Sociological Review Vol. 8, No. 1/2: The Negritos as a Minority Group in the Philippines. Philippine Sociological Society.
  21. Nicdao, A. (1917). Pampangan Folklore. Manila.
  22. Pangilinan, M. (2014–2020). An Introduction to the Kapampángan Language; Interview on Láwû. Sínúpan Singsing: Center for Kapampángan Cultural Heritage.
  23. Loarca, Miguel de. (1582) 1903. Relation of the Filipinas Islands. In Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands 5.
  24. Jocano, F. L. (1968). Sulod Society. Quezon City: U.P. Press.
  25. Talaguit, C. J. N. (2019). Folk-Islam in Maranao Society. History Department, De La Salle University – Manila.
  26. Web site: Psychopomps (Death Guides) of the Philippines . Aswangproject.com. 9 March 2017. 6 November 2021.
  27. Web site: Mictecacihuatl | Goddess a Day . 2012-10-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130315115840/http://www.goddessaday.com/mayan/mictecacihuatl . 2013-03-15 . dead .
  28. Web site: Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Land of the Death. Azteccalendar.com. 6 November 2021.