Pluto (mythology)

Group of ancient roman statues of Persephone (as Isis), Cerberus, and Pluto (as Serapis), from Gortys (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion).

Pluto is the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. Pluto is also known as Hades in Greek mythology. Pluto is also the god of wealth because diamonds and other jewels come from underground.

A myth about Pluto is that he took Proserpina, who was the daughter of Ceres, to the underworld to be his wife. Ceres cried and did not let plants grow on the Earth. People needed the plants so much that the god Jupiter made Pluto give her up. The deal they worked out was that for six months, Pluto got Proserpina. While Proserpina was in the underworld, no plants could grow on Earth and it was winter. When Proserpina went back to her mother, it was summer. This was how the Romans explained the seasons. Pluto also had a three-headed dog named Cerberus that guarded the gates to the underworld.

The dwarf planet Pluto was named after this god.

Pluto (mythology) Media

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  The Abduction of Persephone by Pluto, Amphipolis

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  Dionysos (sitting left, at the end of the couch) and Ploutos (sitting right, holding a cornucopia) surrounded by satyrs and maenads. A satyr is helping and supporting a drunken Hephaistos with his hammer (right). Eros plays with a goose at the bottom. Attic red-figured krater, ca. 370–360 BC. Said to be from S. Agata dei Goti (Campania).

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  Statue of Pluto abducting Proserpina. Karlsaue Park in Kassel, Germany

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  Orpheus before Pluto and Proserpina (1605), by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

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  Hydria (ca. 340 BC) depicting figures from the Eleusinian Mysteries

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  Pediment of an ancient Greek temple with a symposium scene of Dionysus and Pluto, 500s BC, Archaeological Museum of Corfu.

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  Pluto (1588–89) with bident, chiaroscuro woodcut from a series on gods and goddesses by Hendrik Goltzius

Related pages

• Hades - Greek mythology version of Pluto