Thanatos? was The Death Eater Name O/T

[bob.mornington at wanadoo.fr]

No: HPFGUIDX 11521

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., duo at d... wrote:
> An apparent facet of my education has been sadly neglected. What is 
this 
> Thanatos? 
> 
> Nathan
>

Everything you wanted to know about Thanatos, and then some:

Thanatos
In Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), a controversial work that was 
not accepted by some of his otherwise staunchest supporters, Freud 
posited an ultimately destructive "death instinct" ("Thanatos") in 
perpetual conflict with a sexually­oriented life instict ("Eros"). 
=
Thanatosos was the greek god of death. He may be thought of as a 
personification of death. He plays little role in the myths. 
Thanatos (Orcus) was the personification of death itself. He was the 
son of Night and the twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep). In early accounts 
he was seen as a very powerful figure, armed with a sword, with a 
shaggy beard and a fierce face. His coming was marked with pain and 
grief. In later eras, as the transition from life in Elysium became a 
more attractive option, Thanatos was seen as a beautiful young man. 
Many Roman sarcophagi show him as a winged boy, much like Cupid. Since 
he had a ghastly task, he was very unpopular with both man and gods. 

Thanatos could be outsmarted on some occasions. Sisyphus did it twice. 
Once he chained Thanatos up with his own shackles, when it was time 
for Sisyphus to die. During the time he was chained, no mortals could 
die. Eventually Ares released Thanatos and handed Sisyphus over to 
him. Before he had gone to the Underworld, Sisyphus had instructed his 
wife to make no sacrifices once he was dead. Sisyphus then went to 
Hades to complain that he was not being honored after his death. This 
infuriated Hades, who sent Sisyphus back to Earth to scold his wife. 
However, Sisyphus stayed there, and lived a good while longer. For 
this, Zeus punished Sisyphus by making him push a rock up a hill, only 
to see it roll back again. 

OK?

Bob