Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PLUTO (IlXoirrwv)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 861 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PLUTO (IlXoirrwv) , in See also:Greek See also:mythology, the See also:god of the See also:lower See also:world. His See also:oldest name was Hades, Aides or Aidoneus, " the Unseen." He was the son of Cronus and See also:Rhea, and See also:brother of See also:Zeus and See also:Poseidon. Having deposed Cronus, the See also:brothers See also:cast lots for the kingdoms of the See also:heaven, the See also:sea, and the infernal regions. The last, afterwards known as Hades from their ruler, See also:fell to Pluto. Here he ruled with his wife Persephone over the other See also:powers below and over the dead. He is stern and pitiless, See also:deaf to See also:prayer or flattery, and See also:sacrifice to him is of no avail; only the See also:music of See also:Orpheus prevailed upon him to restore his wife See also:Eurydice. His See also:helmet, given him by the See also:Cyclopes after their See also:release from See also:Tartarus, rendered him invisible (like the See also:Tarn—or Nebelkappe of See also:German mythology). He is hated and feared by gods and men, who, afraid to utter his name, both in daily See also:life and on See also:solemn occasions make use of euphemistic epithets: Polydectes (the See also:receiver of many), Clymenus (the Illustrious), See also:Eubulus (the giver of See also:good counsel). Later, owing to his connexion with Persephone and under the See also:influence of the Eleusinian mysteries, the See also:idea of his See also:character. underwent a See also:radical See also:change. Instead of the life-hating god of See also:death, he became a beneficent god, the bestower of See also:grain, minerals, and other blessings produced in the depths of the See also:earth. In this aspect he was called Pluto, the " giver of See also:wealth " (a name that first occurs in the See also:Attic poets of the 5th See also:century), and at most of the centres of his cult he was so worshipped; at Ells alone he was Hades, the god of the dead. The See also:plants sacred to him were the See also:cypress and See also:narcissus; See also:black victims were sacrificed to him, not See also:white, like those offered to the other gods.

In See also:

art he was represented like Zeus and Poseidon; his features are gloomy, his See also:hair falls over his forehead; his attributes are a See also:sceptre and See also:Cerberus; he carries the See also:key of the world below (cf. the epithet IrvXaprrts, " keeper of the See also:gate "), and is frequently in See also:company with Persephone. He is sometimes represented as an agricultural god, carrying a See also:cornu copiae and a two-pronged See also:fork. Amongst the See also:Romans Hades was usually called Dis See also:pater (the " wealthy See also:father ") and Orcus, although the name Pluto is often used. Orcus, however, was rather the actual slayer, the, See also:angel of death, while Father Dis was the ruler of the dead. The See also:Etruscan god of death was represented as a See also:savage old See also:man with wings and a See also:hammer; at the gladiatorial See also:games of See also:Rome a man masked after this See also:fashion removed the corpses from the See also:arena. In Romanesque folk-See also:lore Orcus (possibly See also:English " See also:ogre," q.v.) has passed into a See also:forest-See also:elf, a black, hairy, man-eating See also:monster, upon whose See also:house See also:children lost in the See also:woods are See also:apt to stumble, and who sometimes shows himself kindly and helpful. The " house of Hades " was a dreadful See also:abode deep down in the earth, and the god was invoked by rapping on the ground. According to another view, the See also:realm of Hades was beyond the ocean in the far See also:west, which to the Greek was always the region of darkness and death, as the See also:east of See also:light and life. This is the view of Hades presented in the Odyssey. Besides this gloomy region, we find in another passage of the Odyssey (iv. 561 seq.) a picture of See also:Elysium, a happy See also:land at the ends of the earth, where See also:rain and See also:snow fall' not, but the cool west See also:wind blows and men live at ease. After See also:Homer this happy land, the abode of the good after death, was known as the Isles of the Blest (q.v.).' But in the oldest Greek mythology the " house of Hades " was simply the See also:home of the dead, good and See also:bad alike, who led a. dim and shadowy reflection of life on earth.

See See also:

article " Hades," in See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie; See also:Preller-See also:Robert, Griechische Mythologie (1894) ; L. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, vol. iii., who regards Hades as an See also:evolution from Zeus and his counterpart; according to J. E. See also:Harrison, in Classical See also:Review (Feb. 1908), Hades is the under-world See also:sun.

End of Article: PLUTO (IlXoirrwv)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PLUTARCH (Gr. llXoi rapxos) (c. A.D. 46–120) 		[next]
PLUTO MONKEY

Site © 2006 - Net Industries