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Dīs Pater
Dīs Pater (/ˌdɪs ˈpeɪtər/; Latin:  [diːs patɛr]; genitive Dītis
Dīs Pater
Patris), otherwise known as Rex Infernus or Pluto, is a
Roman god of the underworld. Dis was originally associated God of soil fertility and mineral
with fertile agricultural land and mineral wealth, and since wealth, later associated with the
those minerals came from underground, he was later equated Underworld
with the chthonic deities Pluto (Hades) and Orcus.

Dīs Pater's name was commonly shortened to Dīs, and this

name has since become an alternative name for the
underworld or a part of the underworld, such as the City of Dis
of Dante's The Divine Comedy, which comprises Lower Hell.

Etymology
The name Dīs is a contraction of the Latin adjective dīves
('wealthy, rich'), probably derived from dīvus, dīus ('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 Dīs together with Pater ('father') may be due to
association with Di(e)spiter (Jupiter).[1]
Votive pillar reading Diti Patri et
Cicero gave a similar etymology in De Natura Deorum, Proserpin[ae] sacrum, "Holy to Dīs
suggesting the meaning 'father of riches', and comparing the
Pater and Proserpina"
deity to the Greek name Pluto (Plouton, Πλούτων), meaning
"the rich one", a title bestowed upon the Greek god Hades. Other names Dīs
Abode Hades
Mythology Gender male
Parents Saturn and Ops
Dīs Pater eventually became associated with death and the
underworld because mineral wealth such as gems and Consort Proserpina
precious metals came from underground, wherein lies the Equivalents
realm of the dead, i.e. Hades' (Pluto's) domain. Etruscan Soranus
In being conflated with Pluto, Dīs Pater took on some of the equivalent
latter's mythological attributes, being one of the three sons of
Saturn (Greek Cronus) and Ops (Greek Rhea), along with Jupiter (Greek Zeus) and Neptune
(Greek Poseidon). He ruled the underworld and the dead beside his wife, Proserpina (Greek
Persephone).[3] In literature, Dīs Pater's name was commonly used as a symbolic and poetic way of
referring to death itself.

Dīs Pater was sometimes identified with the Sabine god Soranus.[4] Julius Caesar, in his
Commentaries on the Gallic Wars (VI:18), states that the Gauls all claimed descent from Dīs
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 Dīs Pater.

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A scholium on the Pharsalia equates Dis Pater with

Taranis, the Gaulish god of thunder.[6] In southern
Germany and the Balkans, Aericura was considered
a consort of Dīs Pater.

Worship
In 249  BC and 207  BC, the Roman Senate under
senator Lucius Catellius ordained special festivals to
appease Dīs Pater and Proserpina. Every hundred
years, a festival was celebrated in his name. 18th century painting showing Mercury (center),
According to legend, a round marble altar, Altar of Flora (right), and Dīs Pater (left), from Convito
Dīs Pater and Proserpina (Latin: Ara Ditis Patris et per le nozze di Amore e Psiche (The Wedding
Proserpinae), was miraculously discovered by the Feast of Cupid and Psyche), Galleria Nazionale
servants of a Sabine called Valesius, the ancestor of di Palazzo Spinola, Genoa
the first consul. The servants were digging in the
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 20 feet (6 m) underground. Valesius reburied the altar after three days of games. Sacrifices
were offered to this altar during 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
Crom (fictional deity)
Demeter
Dievas
Dis (Divine Comedy)
Dyaus Pita
God the Father
Hades
Tiwaz
Zeus

References
1. de Vaan 2008, pp. 173–174.
2. Kurt Latte, Römische Religionsgeschichte, part 5, vol. 4 of Handbuch der
Altertumswissenschaft, C.H.Beck, 1976, ISBN 978-3-406-01374-4, p. 247.
3. Grimal (1987). The Dictionary of Classical Mythology (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcla
s00grim/page/141). Oxford: Basil Blackwell. pp. 141, 177 (https://archive.org/details/dictionary
ofclas00grim/page/141). ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
4. Servius' commentary to Aeneid, XI. 785 (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.
+A.+11.785&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053) "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.

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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. Green. Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 81–82.
ISBN 0-500-01516-3.
6. Vendryes, Joseph (1958). Études celtiques (https://books.google.com/books?id=Rf8HAQAAIA
AJ) (in French). Les Belles Lettres.
7. 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 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14
110024). ISBN 978-087817265-8
8. Richardson, L., Jr. (1 October 1992). A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (https://
archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/) (illustrated ed.). London, UK / Baltimore, MD:
Thames and Hudson / Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 110–111 (https://archive.org/detail
s/newtopographical0000rich/page/110). ISBN 0-8018-4300-6. ISBN 978-080184300-6

Bibliography
de Vaan, Michiel (2008). Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ1DwAAQBAJ). Brill. ISBN 9789004167971.

External links
Media related to Dis Pater at Wikimedia Commons

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