In Greek mythology, the father of Zeus was a god named Cronos (which actually means time in Greek). He is often pictured as carrying a sickle. Very often as new religions develop, they absorb myths from previous religions into their own. Old Father Time and the Grim Reaper developed in this way from Cronos In modern-day, European-based folklore, Death is also known as the Grim Reaper. In the Septuagint version of the Bible, Death is portrayed in the apocryphal book of Tobit as Azrael, the angel of death.

don't know but he does the dirty work.

The Grim Reaper as the name implies comes from Western Culture and is the nam,e Given to death. Hindu Culture I beleive they call him Yadas Judaism also has a depictation of death. it is also found in Japanese Mythology Many cultures and all different names but death is what the Mythological creature is , if you could ever call death a Myth. http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/redir?src=eu_webseach

My best guess would Europe and from the period of the black plague. I do know for certain that Azrael is not named as the Angel of Death in the Book of Tobit. In fact, there was no Angel of Death in that book. The Angel Raphael impersonated Azariah (hebrew for help of God using the "Ya" suffix instead of the "el" one), and Azariah was the mortal son of Annias the Great.

The Grim Reaper is a anthropomorphic personification, in this case, of Death. In ancient Greece death was inevitable and so they thought of him more kindly. They called him Thanatos. He was not represented as purely evil, merely a stepping stone. He was just, and gentle. They usually sculpted him as a bearded and winged man, but he can sometimes be seen as a young boy. His job was to take the soul to Hades's underworld, leaving them with Charon, the man in the boat on the river Styx In Germanic folklore the Grim Reaper was a disguise used by Odin, god of wisdom, war, battle, and death. The Grim in Grim Reaper is actually short for Grimnir, another name for Odin. It was with the Welsh and Bretons that he started to carry his scythe. They called him Angeu and Ankou respectively. Only this time he was a man (not skeleton) who carried the scythe. It wasn't until the 1400 A.D. that the skeleton became used. The Lithuanians called him GiltinÄ—, from the word "gelti" which means sting. In Hindu scripture he is Yamaraj, literally "lord of death". To the Chinese he is "Yanluo". To the Japanese, he is Enma, or shinigami. In Islam, he is Azra'il. Other names are: The Destroyer, The Destroying Angel, The Angel of Death,