Mors (mythology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Topics in Roman mythology | |
|---|---|
| Important Gods: | |
| Jupiter | Minerva |
| Mars | Mercury |
| Quirinus | Vulcan |
| Vesta | Ceres |
| Juno | Venus |
| Fortuna | Lares |
| Topics | |
| Legendary History | |
| Roman religion | |
| The Flamens | |
| Greek/Roman myth compared | |
| Other minor Roman deities: | |
| Penates | Larvae |
| Genius | Manes |
| Lemures | Terminus |
In Roman mythology, Mors is the personification of death and equivalent to the Greek Thanatos. He is the son of the goddess of night, Nox, and is the brother of the personification of sleep, Somnus. Mors should not be confused with Mars, the god of war, Pluto, the god of the underworld, or Orcus, god of death and punisher of perjurers.
Mors is also the Latin word for death and is grammatically a feminine gender noun.
In one story, Herculeus (in Greek, Heracles) fought Mors in order to save his friend's wife. In other stories, Mors is shown as a servant to Pluto, ending the life of a person after the thread of their life has been cut by the Fates, and Mercury, the messenger to the gods, escorts the dead persons soul, or shade, down to the underworld's gate.
