Dis Pater

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with
Dies Pater
.
Dis Pater
God of soil fertility and mineral wealth, later associated with the Underworld
Soranus
18th-century painting showing Mercury (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 di Palazzo Spinola, Genoa

Dis Pater (

Orcus
.

Dis Pater's name was commonly shortened to Dis, and this name has since become an alternative name for the underworld or a part of the underworld, such as the

The Divine Comedy
, which comprises Lower Hell.

Etymology

The name Dis is a contraction of the Latin adjective dives ('wealthy, rich'), probably derived from divus, dius ('godlike, divine') via the form *deiu-(o)t- or *deiu-(e)t- ('who is like the gods, protected by/from the gods').

Jupiter).[1]

Cicero gave a similar etymology in De Natura Deorum, suggesting the meaning 'father of riches', and comparing the deity to the Greek name Pluto (Plouton, Πλούτων), meaning "the rich one", a title bestowed upon the Greek god Hades.

Mythology

Dis Pater eventually became associated with death and the underworld 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 with

Jupiter (Greek Zeus) and Neptune (Greek Poseidon). He ruled the underworld and the dead beside his wife, Proserpina (Greek Persephone).[3] In literature, Dis Pater's name was commonly used as a symbolic and poetic way of referring to death
itself.

Dis Pater was sometimes identified with the

Commentaries on the Gallic Wars (VI:18), states that the Gauls all claimed descent from Dis Pater. This is an example of interpretatio romana:[5]
what Caesar meant was that the Gauls all claimed descent from a Gaulish god that he equated with the Roman Dis Pater.

A

Aericura was considered a consort of Dis Pater.[citation needed][year needed
]

Worship

In 249 BC and 207 BC, the

Ludi Saeculares or Ludi Tarentini. It may have been uncovered for each occasion of the games, to be reburied afterwards, a clearly chthonic tradition of worship. It was rediscovered in 1886–1887 beneath the Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Rome.[7][8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b de Vaan 2008, pp. 173–174.
  2. ISBN 978-3-406-01374-4
    , p. 247.
  3. ISBN 0-631-13209-0
    .
  4. Servius' commentary to Aeneid, 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."
  5. ISBN 0-500-01516-3
    .
  6. ^ Vendryes, Joseph (1958). Études celtiques (in French). Les Belles Lettres.
  7. ^ Nash, Ernest (1961–1962). Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Vol. 1. London, UK: A. Zwemmer Ltd. p. 57.
    OCLC 14110024
    .
    ISBN 978-0-87817-265-8
  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

Bibliography

External links

  • Media related to Dis Pater at Wikimedia Commons
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