Thanatos

The personification of death, son of Night (Nyx) and twin brother of Sleep (Hypnos), born without a father in Hesiod's catalogue of Night's offspring (Hes. *Theog.* 211–213). Of all the gods he is the most hated, with a heart of unyielding iron, holding fast whatever mortal he has seized (Hes. *Theog.* 758–766). In Homer it is Sleep and Death, the twin brothers, who lift the slain Sarpedon from the battlefield and carry him gently home to Lycia for burial (Hom. *Il.* 16.671–683). In later myth Sisyphus cheats him, chaining Death so that no mortal dies until he is freed.