Some are merely performing a necessary task.ДЄccording to texts of the Abrahamic religions, one of the the angels of death is Azrael. Looking beyond the traditional grim reaper figure, not all entities associated with death are quite as ominous. The skeletal grim reaper was the great equaliser of medieval society. People from all classes would dance together with skeletal figures off to the afterlife in paintings, woodcuts and plays.Д¬ontemporary poetry, including this verse which was directed at the Holy Roman Emperor, reinforced the reality that all will be reaped by death in time. The Danse Macabre artistic movement was born in the centuries which followed. At the time of the Great Plague, Death reigned as king.ДЄll peoples across Europe acknowledged and even drew inspiration from the overlordship of death. Swathed in black, the grim reaper lurked in the shadows, waiting to reap his next, unsuspecting, victim. ДЄt a time of great misery, it was perhaps inevitable that death was personified in art and literature as a figure of terror. 1 вЂњWhere Does the Concept of a вЂњGrim ReaperвЂќ Come From?вЂќ Amy McKenna. Whilst estimates of the death toll range wildly, some historians have suggested that as many as sixty percent of EuropeвЂ™s total population fell to the sickness.

The inexorable plague swept across the land, leaving piles of bodies in its wake. This ominous symbol of death can be traced back to fourteenth century Eurasia, and one of the darkest periods in human history вЂ“ the Black Death. An Engraving of PetrarchвЂ™s Triumph of Death, published in 1756. A skeletal creature, the traditional grim reaper is death, able to cut down human life with his scythe as easily as he would harvest wheat. The most common imagery associated with the grim reaper is that of a figure dressed in a long, black cloak holding a scythe. In some cases, there are even people who claim to have encountered the grim reaper themselves. Yet, this entity is more than just a psychological coping mechanism: it is a being which has permeated folklore and beliefs across time and space. The grim reaper, or the Angel of Death as he is sometimes called, provides us with a tangible creature to embody the confounding concept of death. For centuries, mankind has searched for a means to make sense of the end of life. Contemplation of our own mortality often simultaneously incomprehensible and terrifying. The loss of a loved one an indescribable agony. Death is incredibly difficult for many of us to cope with.

Grim reaper scythe jpg