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Dis Pater

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Roman god of the underworld

Not to be confused withDies Pater.

Dis Pater
God of soil fertility and mineral wealth, later associated with the Underworld
Votive pillar readingDiti Patri et Proserpin[ae] sacrum, "Dedicated to Dis Pater andProserpina"
Other names	Dis
Abode	Hades
Parents	Saturn andOps
Consort	Proserpina
Equivalents
Etruscan	Soranus
Greek	Hades

18th-century painting showingMercury (center),Flora (right), and Dis Pater (left), from Convito per le nozze di Amore e Psiche (The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche), Galleria Nazionale diPalazzo Spinola, Genoa

Dis Pater (/ˌdɪsˈpeɪtər/;Latin:[diːspatɛr]; genitiveDitis Patris), otherwise known asRex Infernus orPluto, is aRoman god of theunderworld. Dis was originally associated withfertile agricultural land andmineral wealth, and since those minerals came from underground, he was later equated with thechthonic deities Pluto (Hades) andOrcus.

Dis Pater's name was commonly shortened toDis, and this name has since become an alternative name for the underworld or a part of the underworld, such as theCity of Dis ofDante'sThe Divine Comedy, which comprises Lower Hell.

Etymology

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The nameDis is a contraction of the Latin adjectivedives ('wealthy, rich'), probably derived fromdivus, dius ('godlike, divine') via the form*deiu-(o)t- or*deiu-(e)t- ('who is like the gods, protected by/from the gods').^[1]^[2] The occurrence of the deity Dis together withPater ('father') may be due to association withDi(e)spiter (Jupiter).^[1]

Cicero gave a similar etymology inDe Natura Deorum, suggesting the meaning 'father of riches', and comparing the deity to the Greek namePluto (Plouton, Πλούτων), meaning "the rich one", a title bestowed upon the Greek godHades.

Mythology

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Dis Pater eventually became associated with death and theunderworld because mineral wealth such as gems and precious metals came from underground, wherein lies the realm of the dead, i.e.Hades' (Pluto's) domain.

In being conflated withPluto, Dis Pater took on some of the latter'smythological attributes, being one of the three sons ofSaturn (GreekCronus) andOps (GreekRhea), along withJupiter (GreekZeus) andNeptune (GreekPoseidon). He ruled the underworld and the dead beside his wife,Proserpina (GreekPersephone).^[3] In literature, Dis Pater's name was commonly used as a symbolic and poetic way of referring todeath itself.

Dis Pater was sometimes identified with theSabine godSoranus.^[4]Julius Caesar, in hisCommentaries on the Gallic Wars (VI:18), states that theGauls all claimed descent from Dis Pater. This is an example ofinterpretatio romana: what Caesar meant was that the Gauls all claimed descent from a Gaulish god that he equated with the Roman Dis Pater. The identification ofGaulish Dis Pater has posed problems for scholars.^[5]

Ascholium on thePharsalia equates Dis Pater withTaranis, the Gaulish god of thunder.^[6]^{[need quotation to verify]} In southern Germany and the Balkans,Aericura was considered a consort of Dis Pater.^{[citation needed]}^{[year needed]}

Worship

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In 249 BC and 207 BC, theRoman Senate undersenator Lucius Catellius ordained special festivals to appease Dis Pater and Proserpina. Every hundred years, a festival was celebrated in his name. According to legend, a round marble altar,Altar of Dis Pater and Proserpina (Latin:Ara Ditis Patris et Proserpinae), was miraculously discovered by the servants of aSabine called Valesius, the ancestor of the firstconsul. The servants were digging in theTarentum on the edge of theCampus Martius to lay foundations following instructions given to Valesius's children in dreams, when they found the altar 20 feet (6 m) underground. Valesius reburied the altar after three days of games. Sacrifices were offered to this altar during theLudi Saeculares orLudi Tarentini. It may have been uncovered for each occasion of the games, to be reburied afterwards, a clearlychthonic tradition of worship. It was rediscovered in 1886–1887 beneath the Corso Vittorio Emanuele inRome.^[7]^[8]

References

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^^a ^bde Vaan 2008, pp. 173–174.
^Kurt Latte,Römische Religionsgeschichte, part 5, vol. 4 ofHandbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, C.H.Beck, 1976,ISBN 978-3-406-01374-4, p. 247.
^Grimal (1987).The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. pp. 141, 177.ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
^Servius' commentary toAeneid,XI. 785 "Mount Soracte is located in the territory of the Hirpini next to Via Flaminia. It was on this mountain that a sacrifice to Dis Pater was once performed – because it is devoted to chthonic deities – as wolves suddenly appeared and plundered the entrails from the ire. The shepherds chased the wolves for a long time, until they arrived at a cave emanating pestilential gases that killed people standing nearby. The reason for the emergence of this plague was that they had chased the wolves. They received a message that they could calm it down by imitating wolves; that means, living by plundering. They did so, and since then these people have been called Hirpi Sorani."
^Green.Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 81–82.ISBN 0-500-01516-3.
^Vendryes, Joseph (1958).Études celtiques (in French). Les Belles Lettres.
^Nash, Ernest (1961–1962).Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Vol. 1. London, UK: A. Zwemmer Ltd. p. 57.ISBN 0-8018-4300-6.OCLC 14110024.ISBN 978-0-87817-265-8
^Richardson, L. Jr. (1 October 1992).A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (illustrated ed.). London, UK / Baltimore, MD: Thames and Hudson / Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 110–111.ISBN 0-8018-4300-6.ISBN 978-0-8018-4300-6