Icons of Death Trivia Quiz

Answer: Inuit

Anguta (also called Aguta) is a psychopomp, meaning that he is in charge of escorting the souls of the dead into the afterlife. In this case, he transports them to Adlivun, where his daughter Sedna rules. They sleep there for a year before moving on to Qudlivun, located on the moon, to enjoy eternal happiness.

Answer: Balinese

Balinese mythology describes Batara Kala, whose form is that of an ogre, as both the creator of light and the destroyer who takes life, somewhat like the Hindu god Kali. He rules the underworld in a cave, accompanied by Setesuyara, the head goddess of the underworld. Batara Kala is also responsible for eclipses - because they give light, he is the sworn enemy of the sun god (Batara Surya) and the moon god (Batara Candra), and periodically tries to eat the sun and the moon.

Answer: Korean

According to the Korean creation myth called the 'Cheonjiwang Bonpuri', Cheonjiwang is the supreme deity, with a name meaning 'King of the Heavens and the Earth'. His two sons, Daebyeol and Sobyeol, are the central figures of the story. They compete to see who will assist their father by taking over control of one of the many regions of the world. Daebyeol ends up in charge of the Underworld, and Sobyeol land of the living.

There is some cheating involved, but the brothers manage to cooperate with each other. Daebyeol even helped clean up the chaos of the living by removing the power of speech from plants and animals, and forcing ghosts to leave the land of the living and stay in the land of the dead.

Answer: Maori

This goddess of the night and of death, whose name means 'Great woman of night', is the daughter of Tāne Mahuta and Hine-ahuone, the first woman, who was created out of red soil by Tāne Mahuta so that he could have a wife. Their daughter Hine-Titama also became his wife (there being a distinct shortage of women!).

When she discovered that her husband was also her father, she ran off to the spirit world, and took up residence there, where she remains, now known as Hine-nui-te-pō, gathering the souls of the dead.

Answer: Norse

According to both the 'Poetic Edda' and the 'Prose Edda', Hel is a female who rules over Hel, the realm inhabited by the dead. She is one of the thre children of Loki and Angrbođa, the other two being the wolf Fenrir (destined to kill Odin during Ragnarök) and the serpent Jörmungandr (who surrounds the world, holding his tail in his mouth, and who will start Ragnarök when it releases its tail).

At Ragnarök, Hel will bring those over whom she rules in support of the forces of Loki.

Answer: Finnish

The epic poem 'Kalevala' tells the story of Kalma and her family. She is the daughter of Tuoni and Tuonetar, and resides in the underworld (Tuonela) along with sisters. Tuonela is inhabited by the ghosts of both the good and the dead - there is no different afterlife based on virtue or the lack of it. Kalma is said to hang around graveyards, hovering on a cloud of odour (mainly the odour produced by decaying corpses).

She is accompanied, and protected, by her dog Surma, whose name means death (or more precisely, being killed).

Answer: Aztec

In Aztec mythology, Mictēcacihuātl rules with her husband Mictlantecuhtli in Mictlan, the underworld. Her specific task is guarding the bones of the dead, and presiding over festivals of the dead. The modern Day of the Dead merges Aztec traditions with Christian traditions brought to Mexico during Spanish colonisation, and she is still invoked during the celebrations.

She is usually drawn with her mouth open, thought to be an indication of her role in swallowing the stars during the day.

Answer: Roman

The Latin word for death, mors, is feminine, but the god is shown in Roman art as masculine. Go figure. Mors is not so much a god of the dead as the personification of death, equivalent to the Greek Thánatos and the Hindu Mara. Mors is the child of Nox (Night), and the brother of Somnus (Sleep).

He is often associated with Mars (the Roman god of war), Pluto (the god of the underworld) and Orcus (the underworld god who punishes those who have broken oaths).

Answer: Egyptian

Osiris is the god of the afterlife, the underworld and rebirth in Egyptian myth. Details of his life and his roles changed over time. He started being associated with the judging pharaohs on their death, but expanded the role to include all humans. He is traditionally shown in Egyptian art with green skin, sporting the kind of beard associated with pharaohs, wearing a distinctive crown, and carrying a crook and flail, symbolic of the reaping of souls. Osiris appears in a number of myths, which include a lot of contradictory details.

In one version, he is killed by his brother Set, revived by his wife Isis long enough to impregnate her with their son Horus, then dies and retires to the underworld. This death and resurrection (albeit temporary) is seen as a reason for linking him with the annual flood cycle of the Nile, which produced the fertile soil on which the Egyptian civilisation depended.

Answer: Greek

Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, is kidnapped by Hades and taken to live with him in the Underworld. There are several versions of the story, but they all end up with Persephone spending half the year ruling in the Underworld with her husband, and half living on the earth with her mother.

In the Underworld she is a strict judge; her annual return to be with her mother is associated with the new growth of plants in the spring, so she is both a goddess of the dead and a fertility goddess.