Pluto / Dis Pater

The Romans had two names for their underworld god, and preferred to use neither. Pluto came from the Greek Plouton, “the wealthy one.” Dis Pater was the Latin equivalent: dis from dives (rich), pater (father). Both names meant the same thing: the god beneath the earth was rich because the earth contained everything of value, metals, gems, and the dead.

The Avoidance

Romans avoided speaking the name of the underworld god directly. Prayers to him were made by striking the earth with the hands. His temples were few and his festivals rare. The ludi Tarentini, held every century (or every 110 years), included nighttime sacrifices to Dis Pater and Proserpina on the Campus Martius. The infrequency of his worship was not neglect. It was caution. You did not invite the attention of the god who ruled the place you were trying to avoid.

Aeneas Underground

In the sixth book of the Aeneid, Aeneas descends to the underworld guided by the Sibyl of Cumae. He carries a golden bough as his passport. He sees the fields of mourning, the punishments of the wicked, and the Elysian Fields where the blessed dead rest. He meets his father Anchises, who shows him the souls waiting to be reborn as the future heroes of Rome. Virgil’s underworld is not simply a place of the dead. It is a place where the future is stored.

Wealth

The connection between death and wealth was literal. Everything under the earth belonged to Dis Pater: gold, silver, iron, copper, and the dead. Mining was, in a sense, trespassing in his domain. The richest god was the one nobody wanted to visit.