ABSTRACT
A great deal has been written on the question of why Greek personifications should be predominantly female, or, to approach the problem from another direction, why abstract nouns, grammatically speaking, should be so frequently of the feminine gender. Male and female personifications are depicted in ways that reflect the common ideology of how men and women are perceived to behave and what makes them tick. Death offers a rich source of evidence as regards personifications depending on the identity of the deceased, the way he or she died, the personal agenda of the mourner or commentator, the purpose of the text or image, and a host of other factors. The persistence of Thanatos as the heroic death is made clear by a version of the death of Tabs, on two Attic kraters dating from Ehe late fifth century. On one from Spina, Thanatos is presented as a tiny winged figure gesturing towards the great bronze giant whose death he represents.
