A tiny list of pagan death-deities

The Deities of different cultures have always had their importance amongst the populace. We find many archaeological artifacts since pre-history till the early medieval ages (where in some places the old gods were still worshiped) of deities linked to fertility; the so called smithing gods linked to atmospheric changes and the power of natural forces of the sky and their influence over the earth. But such artefacts representing the fertility deities are linked to the common folk, whose work was agro-pastoral.

People worship the deities more closed to them and to their needs and professional affairs. So it is only obvious that common folk would worship fertility gods and deities related with farming, sexuality, protection and so on, because that was what they needed. Warriors would worship war deities, violent deities, bloodthirsty deities, etc. So what about the death deities? Well, the elites administering communities have the power over religion, and they are the ones who make the rules and administrate the social-religious cults. Linked to religion comes death of course, and all the cults, myths and ideias around death. People would only need to have contact with such deities, when a member of their community or family would die, or even themselves. But those whose affairs in society were constantly related with death, such as priests and priestesses, were the ones to worship the death deities.

As such, it is natural to see that the most famous deities are linked to death, because those are the deities worshiped by the elites of each ancient societies, therefore their representations and names come in all forms because only the wealthiest have the means to registrate, either in written form, in architecture and artefacts, the deities they worship.

That is why, till this day, we know more about death deities than any other deities; even if we only hear the name, we know it and we link it automatically with a deity, whilst other names of other deities are less familiar to us. So here is a tiny list of pagan death deities that you have certainly heard about:

Celtic

Cichol - Leader of the Formorians, a race of semi-divine creatures. A being who preceded the gods of Celtic lore. 

Mannanan - Technically a sea deity but is also associated with the veil between the living and afterlife.

Donn - Lord of the dead in Celtic lore.

Morrígan - Associated with battle, strife, and sovereignty. Most frequently seen on the battle-fields in a form of a crow or raven, seeking the dead.

There are many celtic deities associated with death, for the celts were a variety of peoples with similarities in their warrior-culture. They were constantly in conflict amongst themselves and with others, for the basis of their religious ideas was to achieve glory, honour and to become heroes, by their deeds in battle, the control of the art of war and their warrior skills.

Egyptian

Anubis - Guardian of the dead, mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion.

Osiris - Lord of the Underworld.

Nephthys - Anubis’ mother, and sister of Osiris, was also a guardian of the dead. She was believed to also escort dead souls to Osiris.

Seker - A falcon god of the Memphite necropolis who was known as a patron of the living, as well as a god of the dead. He is known to be closely tied to Osiris.

Greek

Hades - King of Underworld. (of course)

Persephone - Queen of the Underworld, wife of Hades and goddess of spring growth.

Hecate - Goddess of magic, night, moon, ghosts, necromancy and crossroads.

Thanatos - Spirit of death and mortality.

Macaria - Daughter of Hades, goddess of the blessed death.

Melinoe - Daughter of Persephone and Hades (or Zeus disguised as Hades), 
goddess of the restless undead, (ghosts etc.).

Angelos - A daughter of Zeus and Hera who became an underworld goddess.

Erebus - The primeval god of darkness, his mists encircled the underworld and filled the hollows of the earth

Keres - Goddesses of violent death, sisters of Thanatos.

Styx - Goddess of the river Styx (the river the dead have to cross), a river that formed a boundary between Earth and the Underworld. 

Erinyes - Chthonic deities of vengeance

Norse

Odin - God of many things, including death. 

Hel - Goddess of the dead, presides over a realm also called Hel or Helheim. 

Freyja - Goddess of fertility, magic and also death. Part of the fallen in battle don't go to Valhalla but to Fólkvangr, the Halls of Freyja.

The scandinavian cultures have a similarity with the celtic one. In the case of Odin, you might think that he is associated with magic and all the cult around that. In truth, Odin was the god of war and death, and not many people worshiped this deity; in fact, the cult of Odin was made by chieftains, specific priests and warriors. The cult of Odin was very violent, therefore not many people worshiped him. With the coming of christianity into scandinavian ground, the worship of the Norse pagan gods was prohibited, but since Odin had had a major importance in the warrior-society of old, his cult was maintained in hiding and he became almost the only old god to be worshiped. This is why all the witchcraft practices also became linked to him and the story of Freyja teaching him magic, spells and all those sort of things, was created. Odin was never a god of magic but a god or war and death.

Finnish

Tuoni - The god of the Tuonela (Underworld).

Roman

Dis Pater - God of the underworld

Mania - Goddess of death

Mors - Personification of death

Orcus - Punisher of broken oaths; usually folded in with Pluto

Pluto - Ruler of the underworld

In the case of the romans, the most famous deities are not linked with death but with the imperial cult. The cult of the emperor and his figure representing power, righteousness, divine love and law,  was much more important during the roman empire (obviously).

Slavic

Morena - Associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature.

Chernobog - The name means "black god". It may be associated with death, although there isn't a very strong association with it or anything else. There are historical sources - christian ones - that interpret him as a malicious god. However, for the Slavs this deity may never had that connotation and wasn't seen as evil.

Peklenc - The lord of the underground and a divine judge.

Veles - Associated with water and the underworld.

Lusitanian and Celtiberian

Cariocecus - God of war and also associated with sacrifices, both of animals and people, which may also be linked to death.

Durius - The god of the river of that same name (nowadays called Douro). There were many river deities, and it is possible that they were linked to death due to the deposition of the peoples' ashes, after funeral rites, on important rivers, including offerings of weapons.

Trebaruna - Goddess associated with home, families, protection, battles, animal sacrifices and possibly death due to the two last associations.

Zombie apocalypse during the Stone Ages

Nowadays the zombie apocalypse Tv shows, Movies and Games have many fans worldwide, but this zombie apocalypse thing is much more than a modern horror device, in fact, the fear of the walking dead, coming from their graves to prey upon the living, is  a subject which we can read in almost every culture all over the globe, each religion has its own form of undead, for example the Draugr from the Norse Scandinavian countries,  the ghūl / Ghoul from the Arabian folklore, the Jiangshi from the Chinese Folklore and so on... It seems that we humans have always feared the return of the deceased into the world of the living... but today at this post, I will not talk about the folklore of every culture ( which would be a very interesting subject, but too extensive ), what i will be writing about, is the fact that we thought that such creatures of myth were as ancient as the historical texts..but in truth it comes from a past, way before the first history records.

In Europe and in the Middle East Archaeologists have recently unearthed evidence of a mysterious Stone Age culture that smashed skulls. Human skulls buried underneath an ancient settlement in Syria were found detached from their bodies with their faces smashed in. It appears that the skulls were exhumed and detached from their bodies several years after originally being buried. It was then that they were smashed in and reburied separate from their bodies. This finding could suggest that these people from Stone Age believed that the living were under some kind of threat from the dead. Perhaps they believed that the only way of protecting themselves was to smash in the corpses' faces, detach their heads and rebury them apart from their bodies, which reminds me of how people in Romania back in the Dark Ages and early medieval ages used to kill the so called Vampires, or the moroi or  strigoi, by detaching the head from the body and buring it so, with the tool that was used to cut the head ( usually a sickle, Scythe or a shovel) between each part, so that the body couldn't attach the head again and like so, return. I may have "fled" from the main subject, but a Vampire is also a form of an undead, and also because I love mythology so much.. I couldn't resist.
Back to the subject, archaeologists found a very unusual thing: many of the 10,000-year-old skulls appear to have been separated from their spines long after their bodies had already begun to decompose. Why would this ritual be performed so long after individuals had died? Did they only pose a threat to the living long after their original burial and death? If this was a manner of a  ritualistic exercise, it also raises questions about why only specific corpses were chosen. All of the smashed skulls were from adult males between the ages of 18 and 30. Furthermore, there was no trace of delicate cutting. It appears that the skulls' faces were simply smashed in using brute force with a stone tool. There is always a rational explanation in everything we find, but let us delve into a few facets of zombie mythology. Zombies, as we know, are hungry for the flesh of the living, and the only way to stop them is by striking the head somehow, or the brain. In many zombie movies, this involves shooting them in the cranium. One might surmise that the Stone Age equivalent of this would be smashing in their faces with a big rock and do the most damage possible. Perhaps taking their heads off was then performed to ensure that the job was done and there was no way that these bodies could come to life again. Maybe what seems to be an unearthed body to take its head off and smash the face in, and buried again, was in fact a body that came out by itself, and only after this, it was.. killed again lets just say and placed back into the proper place. But of course, this isn't a thing to be taken into a scientific thesis, according to archaeologists working in this case it is possible that Stone Age people simply believed that they could absorb the strength of the dead young men by performing somekind of ritual, such rituals are commun in many ancient cultures. This would help explaining why all the skulls were from young men. It would also help to explain why the heads were buried directly underneath a thriving settlement. It may also have been an act of revenge.

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