![]() ![]() The frighted Goddess to her mother cries,īut all in vain, for now far off she flies. Swift as his thought he seiz’d the beauteous prey, Sees her thus sporting on the flow’ry green,Īnd loves the blooming maid, as soon as seen. Hell’s grizly monarch at the shade arrives While first to fill her little lap she strives, She gathers lillies here, and vi’lets there While like a child with busy speed and care Here, while young Proserpina, among the maids,ĭiverts herself in these delicious shades The scene-one of the most famous in ancient literature-was rendered beautifully by the poet Ovid in his masterwork the Metamorphoses: Seized with irrepressible desire, Pluto flew forth upon his chariot, abducted Proserpina, and carried her away, leaving naught behind but a bow the girl had used as a belt. That woman was Proserpina, who was frolicking in fields of Nysa. Taking pity on him, Venus told her son Cupid to fire one of his love arrows at Pluto so that he might become smitten with the next woman he saw. Pluto was a lonely deity who lived in the gloomy underworld and seldom encountered others. One of Pluto’s most famous myths centered on his abduction of Proserpina and the grief it unleashed upon her mother, Ceres. Mythology Pluto and the Rape of Proserpina Among the most popular candidates were the goddesses known as the Eumenides (or Furies)-deities of vengeance who lived in the chthonic darkness. While Greek and Roman traditions insisted that Pluto had children, there was little consensus about who they might have been. Though Pluto lived alone in the gloomy places beneath the earth for much of his life, he eventually came to share his realm with another-Proserpina, the daughter of Ceres and Jupiter. These siblings included Neptune, lord of all waters, Juno, the matron goddess, Vesta, guardian of hearth and home, and Ceres, a fertility goddess associated with agriculture. His brother Jupiter-the mightiest of all gods-freed Pluto and his siblings from their father’s wrath. Pluto’s parents were Ops, goddess of the earth, and Saturn, ruler of the cosmos. In this 18th century Dutch engraving, Pluto reclines in a chariot pulled by Cerberus. Pluto was often accompanied by Cerberus, a three-headed hound that served both as his pet and guardian of the underworld. He rode a chariot, carried a staff, and was often depicted wearing a warrior’s helm. Likewise, Pluto seldom involved himself in godly affairs. He lived underground in a gloomy palace, and seemed to have little interest in the world of men. ![]() Pluto was the lord of the subterranean underworld, which in Roman mythology served as the resting place of departed souls. In time, this aspect became independent of Jupiter and eventually merged with the Hellenic god Hades. Pluto) was originally an aspect of Jupiter. Extremely similar names ( Diespiter and Dispiter) were given to Jupiter, the greatest of the Roman gods the similarity of these titles suggested that Dīs Pater (i.e. The name was also rooted in the ancient Greek noun ploutos, meaning “wealth” or “riches.”ĭīs Pater, another of Pluto’s names used widely by early Romans, was ultimately derived from the Proto Indo-European words meaning “god” and “father." In Latin, the words were deus (god) and pater (father). The name “Pluto,” rendered as Plūtō in the Latin, was derived from the Greek name Plouton, meaning “the wealthy one.” This name was an aspect of the deity Hades, one that highlighted his control over subterranean sources of mineral wealth. In some mythographic and historiographic traditions, the name Dīs Pater was used in lieu of the name Pluto evidence suggests that the Romans used these identifiers interchangeably. The latter was a Dīs Pater, a deity worshipped by early Romans for his power over the underworld and mineral wealth. Pluto’s identity was largely comprised of elements taken from two distinct entities: Hades, a Greek deity, and Plouton, the lord of wealth. The crystallization of Pluto’s identity as the Roman god of the dead, the underworld, and wealth reflected a complex historical development. Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece. Pluto was the Roman counterpart to Hades, the Greek deity who ruled the underworld of the same name.Ī wizened Pluto leans on his staff as his three-headed hound Cerberus keeps watch in this statue from the second century CE. For this reason, he was celebrated by many as the bringer of wealth. As commander of the subterranean realms, he was the master of ores, metals, and the precious stones found within them. A figure of enormous dread and terrible might, Pluto dispensed luck and controlled the fates of all mortals. The foremost of the Roman chthonic (“subterranean”) deities, Pluto was god of the dead and lord of the underworld. ![]()
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