Dis Pater

2025-08-09T17:09:03Z

2A00:23C6:A074:EF01:C007:7478:3BE9:49BC:

{{Short description|Roman god of the underworld}}
{{Distinguish|Dies Pater}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Roman
| name = Dis Pater
| deity_of =God of soil fertility and mineral wealth, later associated with the Underworld
| member_of =
| image =CIL XIII 8177.jpg
| alt = 
| caption =[[Votive pillar]] reading ''Diti Patri et Proserpin[ae] sacrum'', "Dedicated to Dis Pater and [[Proserpina]]"
| other_names = Dis
| cult_center =
|abode=[[Hades]]
| consort = [[Proserpina]]
| parents = [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] and [[Ops]]
| siblings =
| offspring =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| mount =
| Greek_equivalent = [[Hades]]
| Etruscan_equivalent = [[Soranus (mythology)|Soranus]]
| festivals =
}}
[[File:Mercury, Flora & Dis Pater (Pluto).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|18th-century painting showing [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] (center), [[Flora (mythology)|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 di Pellicceria|Palazzo Spinola]], Genoa]]

'''Dis Pater''' ({{IPAc-en|,|d|I|s|_|'|p|ei|t|@r}}; {{IPA|la|diːs patɛr|lang}}; genitive ''Ditis Patris'', lit. the "Rich Patriarch"), otherwise known as '''Rex Infernus''' or '''[[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]]''', is a [[Roman mythology|Roman god]] of the [[underworld]]. Dis was originally associated with [[fertility (soil)|fertile]] agricultural land and [[mineral]] wealth, and since those minerals came from underground, he was later equated with the [[Chthonic|chthonic deities]] Pluto ([[Hades]]) and [[Orcus (mythology)|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 [[Dis (Divine Comedy)|City of Dis]] of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante's]] ''[[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').{{Sfn|de Vaan|2008|pp=173–174}}<ref>Kurt Latte, ''Römische Religionsgeschichte'', part 5, vol. 4 of ''Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft'', C.H.Beck, 1976, {{ISBN|978-3-406-01374-4}}, p. 247.</ref> The occurrence of the deity Dis together with ''Pater'' ('father') may be due to association with ''Di(e)spiter'' ([[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]).{{Sfn|de Vaan|2008|pp=173–174}}

[[Cicero]] gave a similar etymology in ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'', suggesting the meaning 'father of riches', and comparing the deity to the Greek name [[Pluto (mythology)|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 (mythology)|Pluto's]]) domain.

In being conflated with [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], Dis Pater took on some of the latter's [[Greek mythology|mythological]] attributes, being one of the three sons of [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] (Greek [[Cronus]]) and [[Ops]] (Greek [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]), along with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] (Greek [[Zeus]]) and [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] (Greek [[Poseidon]]). He ruled the underworld and the dead beside his wife, [[Proserpina]] (Greek [[Persephone]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Grimal |title=The Dictionary of Classical Mythology |year=1987 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/141 141, 177] |publisher=Oxford: Basil Blackwell |isbn=0-631-13209-0 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/141}}</ref> 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 [[Sabine]] god [[Soranus (mythology)|Soranus]].<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]' commentary to [[Aeneid]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+11.785&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 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."</ref> [[Julius Caesar]], in his ''[[Commentaries on the Gallic Wars]]'' (''VI'':18), states that the [[Gauls]] all claimed descent from Dis Pater. This is an example of ''[[Interpretatio graeca#Interpretatio romana|interpretatio 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 of [[Gaulish Dis Pater]] has posed problems for scholars.<ref>{{cite book|last=Green|title=Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend| pages=81–82| publisher=London: Thames and Hudson| isbn=0-500-01516-3}}</ref>

A [[scholium]] on the [[Pharsalia]] equates Dis Pater with [[Taranis]], the Gaulish god of thunder.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Rf8HAQAAIAAJ |title=Études celtiques |last=Vendryes |first=Joseph |year=1958 |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |language=fr}}</ref>{{quote needed|date=July 2020}} In southern Germany and the Balkans, [[Aericura]] was considered a consort of Dis Pater.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}{{year needed|date=July 2020}}

==Worship==
In 249 BC and 207 BC, the [[Roman Senate]] under [[senator]] 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'' ({{langx|la|Ara Ditis Patris et Proserpinae}}), was miraculously discovered by the servants of a [[Sabine]] called Valesius, the ancestor of the first [[consul]]. The servants were digging in the [[Tarentum (Campus Martius)|Tarentum]] on the edge of the [[Campus Martius]] to lay foundations following instructions given to Valesius's children in dreams, when they found the altar {{convert|20|ft|0}} underground. Valesius reburied the altar after three days of games. Sacrifices were offered to this altar during the [[Secular games|''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]].<ref>
{{cite book
|last=Nash |first=Ernest
|year=1961–1962
|title=Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome
|volume=1 |page=57
|place=London, UK
|publisher=A. Zwemmer Ltd.
|isbn=0-8018-4300-6
|oclc=14110024
}}
{{isbn|978-0-87817-265-8}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
|last=Richardson |first=L. Jr.
|title=A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
|date=1 October 1992 |edition=illustrated
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/page/110 110–111]
|place=London, UK / Baltimore, MD
|publisher=Thames and Hudson / Johns Hopkins University Press
|isbn=0-8018-4300-6
|url=https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/
}}
{{ISBN|978-0-8018-4300-6}}
</ref>

==See also==
* [[Crom (fictional deity)]]
* [[Demeter]]
* [[Dievas]]
* [[Dis (Divine Comedy)]]
* [[Dyaus Pita]]
* [[Dyēus]]
* [[God the Father]]
* [[Hades]]
* [[Tiwaz]]
* [[Zeus]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===

* {{Cite book|last=de Vaan |first=Michiel|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ1DwAAQBAJ |title=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages |year=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16797-1 |language=en |author-link=Michiel de Vaan}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dis Pater}}
[[Category:Roman gods]]
[[Category:Death gods]]
[[Category:Underworld gods]]
[[Category:Celtic gods]]
[[Category:Roman underworld]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]
[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:Fertility gods]]
[[Category:Earth gods]]
[[Category:Abundance gods]]
[[Category:Fortune gods]]
[[Category:Hades]]

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Dis Pater