Portal:Death

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Introduction

Statue of Death, personified as a human skeleton dressed in a shroud and clutching a scythe, from the Cathedral of Trier in Trier, Germany

Death is the cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include aging, predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, homicide, starvation, dehydration, and accidents or major trauma resulting in terminal injury. In most cases, bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death.

Death – particularly the death of humans – has commonly been considered a sad or unpleasant occasion, due to the affection for the being that has died and the termination of social and familial bonds with the deceased. Other concerns include fear of death, necrophobia, anxiety, sorrow, grief, emotional pain, depression, sympathy, compassion, solitude, or saudade. Many cultures and religions have the idea of an afterlife, and also hold the idea of reward or judgement and punishment for past sin.

Selected article

Jean-Paul Laurens, Le Pape Formose et Étienne VII, 1870.
The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial or, in Latin, the Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January of 897.

Before the proceedings the body of Formosus was exhumed and, according to some sources, seated on a throne while his successor, Pope Stephen VI, read the charges against him (of which Formosus was found guilty) and conducted the trial. The Cadaver Synod is remembered as one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the medieval papacy.

Selected image

Tomb sculpture
Credit: Jastrow

Sculpture of Johann Baptista Gislenus' (1670) tomb, Church Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The inscription reads "neither living here", "nor dead there".

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Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt - Anatomy lesson of Dr. Willem van der Meer.jpg
Danse macabre by Michael Wolgemut.png
Rudolf Schiestl (1878-1931) - Tod von Basel.jpg

Anniversaries of death

Obituaries

Disasters and accidents

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Quote

"If we were sensible we would seek death — the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed."

H. P. Lovecraft "Nietzscheism and Realism"

Major topics

Death project

WikiProject Death outstanding articles


The Death WikiProject is a collaboration that helps to assemble writers and editors interested in Death.
The aim of this project is to standardize and improve articles related to Death, and to create any missing articles
To become a member of this WikiProject (anyone may join), simply click here - and add {{user|username}}.
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