Death itself has been personified from the beginning of time. This is why it has interested me as to how it is depicted and how different cultures, religion and history effects this.

How most people see death, is in the form of the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is a skeleton figure cloaked in black cloth and carries a scythe. The scythe symbolises the harvesting of souls. The Grim Reaper is believed to carry the souls to the unknown territory after death.  He has a smile that stretches across his skeleton face that haunts people and has inspired various form of media to portray him in various ways.

However this is the most well know depiction there are others.

Abaddon: Hebrew word for destruction: angel Abaddon, king of an army of locusts

in Ancient Greek mythology they believed that Charon ferried the souls across the river that separated the living and the dead. Some believed that if you didn’t pay Cheron he would dump the body on the river bank and the soul would be trapped between earth and heaven. This may have been why bodies were buried with coins. The souls would then be taken to Hades, Greek god of the underworld.

In alot of the images of Cheron he is shown as a withered old man. He often had long hair and a beard. and was clothed only by a cloth. 

Breton mythology: tales of the Celtic folk from Brittany France

The Ankou is often considered the spirit of the last person that died in the community. Often appeared as a haggard figure with long white hair and a wide hat, or a skeleton with a revolving head who can see everything. The Ankou drives a wagon or cart which is piled high with corpses.

Poland : Śmierć Looks similar to the grim reaper but has a white robe and is mostly seen as a skeletal woman

In Norway, because of the Black Plague is an old woman known by the name of Pesta, meaning “plague hag”. She wore a black hood and would go into a town carrying either a rake or a broom, The rake meant that some people would survive where as the broom meant everyone died.