where did the grim reaper come from?

Question

is it the the ferry man that takes the dead?

Answer 1

In Greek mythology Zeus has a son called Thanetos. Thanetos is sent by his father to help his uncle, Hades. Hades rules the underworld where the souls of the dead reside. Thanetos's mission is to search the over world for the souls of men who have lost their way to the underworld.
Because he is not mortal Thanetos has no definite physical form, so he wears a long hooded cloak to walk amongst men. He also carried a sword to protect himself.
Later on Thanetos is also called Death, Old father time and the Grim Reaper. In the Tarot Deck he is often seen as a skeleton with a scythe, this is the Medieval Christian image.
His original purpose was to guide these souls to the River Styx, an underground river that led into the realms of the Underworld. The Ferryman steered the vessel on the River Styx. The money you gave him determined which part of the Underworld he took the soul too.

Answer 2

The grim reaper is Samhain, the Druidic (Celtic) god of the dead. On Halloween (the Druidic New Year), Samhain would go out to a barley field to mow. Every stalk of barley he cut was a person who would die in the next year.

The ferryman is Charon, from Greek mythology. He carried the souls of the dead across the Styx to Hades. That's why they used to put coins on the eyes of the dead--to pay the ferryman.

St. Christopher was a Catholic reworking of the Charon legend...which is why John Paul 2 removed St. Christopher from the offical calendar of saints. However in Spain and Italy this has been ignored and you can still get St. Christopher medals.

Answer 3

Charon was never depicted as carrying a scythe or hourglass but he did have the hooded face and a pole to steer his raft across the Styx. I think the grim reaper came from some other tale than the Greek myths. Probably an Irish creation.

Answer 4

Bury St Edmonds

Answer 5

In the Celtic traditions, Death appeared as a figure with a scythe who cut short the lives of people by reaping them like grain. This is not that different from the Greek idea of the Fates, Clotho, who spun out the thread of a person's life; Lachesis, who measured it; and Atropos, who cut the thread, thus ending the life.

Answer 6

it could be the plague. in medieval times the depicted the plague as a skeleton ready to take the lives of the living.

Answer 7

he's 1 of the horsemen of the apocalypse i think

Answer 8

He comes from NY where all the old folks die and he eats them to make msall children feel better about the stuff??

Answer 9

The IRS .....

Answer 10

your asshole. lol not really.