Gods of death — like Anubis of ancient Egypt, the Norse deity Hel, and Mictlāntēcutli, the vicious ruler of the Aztec underworld — have played a key role in the cultures and religions of civilizations throughout history.

Death is a universal human experience. And ancient cultures around the world came up with different ways to interpret death, loss, and grief, often through myths about death gods.

Some of these gods were terrifying. The Maya believed that caves were portals to the underworld, which led to the creation of Camazotz, a bat-like deity. Likely modeled after the huge vampire bats that once lived in Central America, Camazotz was said to carry a knife in one hand and a human heart in the other. He was able to snatch his victims from the ground.

However, other death gods were mo

See Full Page