| Plutus | |
|---|---|
God of wealth | |
 Eirene with the infant Plutus: Roman copy afterKephisodotos' votive statue, c. 370 BC, in the Agora, Athens. | |
| Symbols | Cornucopia |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Demeter andIasionor Tyche |
| Siblings | Persephone,Despoina,Arion,Philomelus,Eubuleus,Iacchus |
Inancient Greek religion andmythology,Plutus (/ˈpluːtəs/;Ancient Greek:Πλοῦτος,romanized: Ploûtos,lit. 'wealth') is thegod and thepersonification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agricultureDemeter and the mortalIasion.
Plutus is most commonly the son ofDemeter[1] andIasion,[2] with whom she lay in a thrice-ploughed field. He is alternatively the son of the fortune goddessTyche.[3]
Two ancient depictions of Plutus, one of him as a little boy standing with a cornucopia before Demeter, and another inside the cornucopia being handed to Demeter by a goddess rising out of the earth, perhaps implying that he had been born in the Underworld, were interpreted byKarl Kerenyi to mean that Plutus was supposed to be the son ofHades andPersephone, the king and the queen of theUnderworld,[4] though no such version is attested in any primary source.
In the philosophized mythology of the later Classical period, Plutus is envisaged byAristophanes as blinded byZeus, so that he would be able to dispense his gifts without prejudice; he is also lame, as he takes his time arriving, and winged, so he leaves faster than he came.[5] When the god's sight is restored, inAristophanes' comedy, he is then able to determine who is deserving of wealth, creating havoc.
Phaedrus records afable where, afterHercules is received in Olympus, he greets all the gods but refuses to greet Plutus. When the king of godsJupiter asks him why, he replies that he hates the god of riches due to Plutus favouring the wicked and the corrupt.[3]
Among the Eleusinian figures painted onGreek ceramics, regardless of whether he is depicted as child or youthfulephebe, Plutus can be identified as the one bearing thecornucopia—horn of plenty. In laterallegoricalbas-reliefs, Plutus is depicted as a boy in the arms ofEirene, as Prosperity is the gift of "Peace", or in the arms ofTyche, the Fortune of Cities.
InLucian of Samosata's satirical dialogueTimon, Plutus, the very embodiment of worldly goods written up in a parchment will, says to Hermes:
it is not Zeus who sends me, but Hades, who has his own ways of conferring wealth and making presents; Hades and Plutus are not unconnected, you see. When I am to flit from one house to another, they lay me on parchment, seal me up carefully, make a parcel of me and take me round. The dead man lies in some dark corner, shrouded from the knees upward in an old sheet, with the cats fighting for possession of him, while those who have expectations wait for me in the public place, gaping as wide as young swallows that scream for their mother's return.
In Canto VII ofDante'sInferno, Plutus is a demon of wealth who guards the fourth circle of Hell, "The Hoarders and the Wasters". Dante likely included Plutus to symbolize the evil of hoarding wealth. He is known for saying the famous phrase, "Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe."
In addition,Erasmus writes inThe Praise of Folly that Folly is the offspring of Plutus.[6]
Like many other figures in Greek and Roman mythology, Plutus' name is related to several English words. These include:
Media related toPlutus at Wikimedia Commons
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