And although he didn’t guide souls from Earth to the afterlife per se, he did help them across the rivers Styx and Acheron once they got there. Charon: Charon is a key player in Greek mythology.Here are some representations of death as a human being that appeared well before the Grim Reaper: But it’s far from the first imagery used to illustrate death in more approachable terms. The Grim Reaper might be the most well-known personification of death in the modern world. Eventually, the artwork began depicting the Reaper hiding within the folds of his black cloak, which is common imagery representing death and mourning. Some paintings show the Reaper swinging his scythe through whole crowds of people, reaping hundreds of souls at a time, just as the plague would have done. But eventually, this evolved into the scythe we know today. Artwork from the era sometimes shows the skeleton holding a crossbow or some other medieval weapon. It was during this time that artists started depicting death as just that: a skeleton, waiting in the wings to take loved ones away at a moment’s notice. And as the plague ravaged cities and countryside alike, death came closer to to the average person’s life than ever before, lurking like an ever-present spirit. It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, killing at least 25 million people with just its first outbreak. It’s thought that the Grim Reaper appeared in around the 14th century when a specific historical event unfolded.Įxplore sympathy gifts Grim Reaper and the PlagueĪn epidemiological event known as the Black Death or simply “the plague” changed the way the average person viewed death in the 14th century. Throughout history, there have been numerous psychopomps, from other human versions to animals, like ravens.Ĭompared to ancient angels of death, the Grim Reaper is a relatively recent addition to the psychopomp ranks. The Grim Reaper is a psychopomp: a creature (in this case, roughly human in form) that guides departed souls to the afterlife. But who is the Grim Reaper, really, and how did Grim Reaper imagery come to represent death? Where Does the Grim Reaper Come From? The figure holds a scythe and is thought to escort departed souls to the afterlife. The Grim Reaper traditionally looks like a skeleton wearing a black, hooded cloak. What Happens When You See the Grim Reaper? Does It Actually Kill You?.And the most recognizable embodiment of death itself is a dark, mysterious figure known as the Grim Reaper.
Personifying death is one way that human beings have historically come to grips with our mortality.
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