Everything about Dispater totally explained
Dis Pater, or
Dispater, was a
Roman and
Celtic god of the
underworld, later subsumed by
Pluto or
Jupiter. Originally a
chthonic god of riches,
fertile agricultural
land, and underground
mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman deities Pluto and
Orcus, becoming an
underworld deity.
Dis Pater was commonly shortened to simply
Dis. This name has since become an alternate name for the underworld or a part of the underworld, such as the Dis of
The Divine Comedy.
Etymology
Dis Pater was originally a god of wealth, much like the Greek god
Pluto (from Greek Πλούτων,
Ploutōn, meaning "wealthy"), who was later equated with Dis Pater.
Dis is contracted from the
Latin dives ("rich"), and
pater is Latin for "father", the literal meaning of
Dis Pater being "Wealthy Father" or "Father of Riches".
Julius Caesar writes in
Commentarii de Bello Gallico that the
Gauls considered Dis Pater to be an ancestor. This may in part be due to confusion between Dis Pater and the
Proto-Indo-European deity *
Dyeus, who would have been addressed as *
Dyeu Phter ("Sky Father"). This name is also the likely origin of the name of many Indo-European gods, including
Zeus and
Jupiter, though its relationship with
Dis Pater may be in part coincidental.
Mythology
Like Pluto, Dis Pater eventually became associated with death and the underworld because the mined wealth of the earth—gems and precious metals—was considered in the domain of the Greco-Roman underworld. As a result, Dis Pater was over time conflated with the Roman gods Pluto (originally an
epithet of the Greek god
Hades) and
Orcus.
In being conflated with Pluto, Dis Pater took on some of the
Greek mythological attributes of Pluto/Hades, being one of the three sons of
Saturn (Greek:
Cronus) and
Ops (Greek:
Rhea), along with Jupiter and
Neptune. He ruled the underworld and the dead beside his wife,
Proserpina (Greek:
Persephone). In literature, Dis Pater was commonly used as a symbolic and poetic way of referring to
death itself.
Worship
When Dis Pater was in the underworld, only
oaths and
curses could reach him, and people invoked him by striking the earth with their hands. Black sheep were sacrificed to him, and those who performed the sacrifice averted their faces. Dis Pater, like his Greek equivalent, Hades, had little or no real cult following, and so there are few statues of him.
In
249 BC and
207 BC, the
Roman Senate 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,
Ara Ditis Patris et Proserpinae (
Latin: "Altar of Dis Pater and Proserpina"), was miraculously discovered by the servants of a
Sabine called
Valesius, the ancestor of 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 ft. (6.09 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 1886–87 beneath the
Corso Vittorio Emanuele in
Rome.
In addition to being considered the ancestor of the Gauls, Dis Pater was sometimes identified with the
Sabine god
Soranus. In southern Germany and the
Balkans, Dis Pater had a
Celtic goddess,
Aericura, as a consort. Dis Pater was rarely associated with foreign deities in the shortened form of his name,
Dis.
Popular culture
- In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Dispater is the name of ruler of the city Dis on the plane of Baator (the Nine Hells).
- In episode 2 of the second season of popular HBO series Rome suicidal centurion Lucius Vorenus admits that he'd kill himself, but "Dis" is his master; he's at the mercy of the God to end his life. Throughout the series, Vorenus repeatedly utters "Sons of Dis!" as a curse, Antony also exclaims this curse in the episode titled 'Egeria'.
- In id Software's videogame DOOM, the final level of Episode III: Inferno is entitled Dis.
- Dis Pater is the name of a Russian Gothic Doom Metal Band
- Dis Pater is quoted in the line "I'm Dis from Darkness, of your destiny. I see pieces of blood flow" of the song Dialogue Symphonie by the japanese gothic metal band Moi dix Mois
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dispater'.
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