Editing Pluto (mythology) (section)

=== Vegetation and color ===
According to the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Lucius Annaeus Cornutus|Cornutus]] (1st century AD), Pluto wore a wreath of ''phasganion'', more often called ''xiphion'',<ref>Ancient sources on ''phasganion'', ''xiphion'' and ''gladiolus'', generally called "corn-flag" by [[History of botany|historical botanists]], include [[Theophrastus]], ''[[Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)|Historia Plantarum]]'' 7.12.3; [[Dioscorides]], [[De Materia Medica (Dioscorides)|''De Materia Medica'']] ''E'' 2.101; [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''Natural History'' 21.107–115; [[Pseudo-Apuleius]], ''Herbarius'' 79, as cited by Andrew Dalby, ''Food in the Ancient World from A to Z'' (Routledge, 2003), p. 105, characterizing Pliny's entry on the plant as "confused." The correspondence of ancient plant names to modern species is always uncertain. Both the Greek ''xiphion'' and the Latin word ''gladiolus'' ("little sword") come from a word meaning "sword."</ref> traditionally identified as a type of [[gladiolus]].<ref>''Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle'' (Paris, 1819), pp. 315–316; Julius Billerbeck, ''Flora classica'' (Leipzig, 1824), p. 13; "L'origine dei maccheroni," ''Archivo per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari'' 17 (1898), vol. 36, p. 428.</ref> [[Dioscorides]] recorded medical uses for the plant. For extracting [[stinger|stings]] and [[thorn (botany)|thorns]], ''xiphion'' was mixed with wine and [[frankincense]] to make a [[cataplasm]]. The plant was also used as an [[aphrodisiac]]<ref>Francis Adams, ''The Seven Books of [[Paulus Aegineta]]'' (London, 1847), p. 270; Dalby, ''Food in the Ancient World'', p. 105; ''Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle'', p. 315.</ref> and [[Birth control#Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Rome|contraceptive]].<ref>[[John M. Riddle]], ''Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance'' (Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 42; ''Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle'', p. 315.</ref> It grew in humid places. In an obscure passage, Cornutus seems to connect Pluto's wearing of ''phasganion'' to an etymology for [[Avernus]], which he derives from the word for "air," perhaps through some association with the color ''glaukos'', "bluish grey," "greenish" or "sea-colored," which might describe the plant's leaves. Because the color could describe the sky, Cornutus regularly gives it divine connotations.<ref>P.G. Maxwell-Stuart, ''Studies in Greek Colour Terminology: ΓΛΑΥΚΟΣ'' (Brill, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 40, 42, citing Cornutus, ''Theologiae Graecae Compendium'' 9, 20, 35. The word γλαυκότης ''(glaukotēs)'', however, is a [[textual criticism|textual crux]] in the passage pertaining to Pluto.</ref> Pluto's twin sister was named [[#Euhemerism and Latinization|Glauca]].

Ambiguity of color is characteristic of Pluto. Although both he and his realm are regularly described as dark, black, or gloomy, the god himself is sometimes seen as pale or having a pallor. [[Martianus Capella]] (5th century) describes him as both "growing pale in shadow, a fugitive from light" and actively "shedding darkness in the gloom of [[Tartarus|Tartarean]] night," crowned with a wreath made of [[ebony]] as suitable for the kingdom he governs.<ref>''Lucifuga inumbratione pallescens'' and ''Tartareae noctis obscuritate furvescens'', [[Martianus Capella]], ''De nuptiis'' 1.79–80; Danuta Shanzer, ''A Philosophical and Literary Commentary on Martianus Capella's'' De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' Book 1'' (University of California Press, 1986), p. 171.</ref> The horses of Pluto are usually black, but Ovid describes them as "sky-colored" (''caeruleus'', from ''[[Caelus|caelum]]'', "sky"), which might be blue, greenish-blue, or dark blue.<ref>Ovid, ''[[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]]'' 4.446, as cited John G. Fitch, ''Seneca's ''Hercules furens'': A Critical Text with Introduction and Commentary'' (Cornell University Press, 1987), p. 166, note to Seneca's identical description of the horses of the Sun (line 132). Ovid describes the horses as black ''(ater)'' in his version of the abduction myth in the ''Metamorphoses'', 5.310. On the color ''caeruleus,'' see also Hendrik Wagenvoort, "Caerimonia," in ''Studies,'' pp. 98–101.</ref>

[[File:Spring in London (7116603849).jpg|thumb|The [[Narcissus (plant)|narcissus]], frequently linked to the myth of Persephone, who was snatched into the Underworld by the god Hades while picking the flowers]]

The [[Renaissance]] mythographer [[Natale Conti]] says wreaths of [[Narcissus (plant)|narcissus]], [[Adiantum|maidenhair fern ''(adianthus)'']]<!--adianthus is the form used by Conti, not adiantum-->, and [[cupressus sempervirens|cypress]] were given to Pluto.<ref>Natale Conti, ''Mythologiae'' 2.9. Conti's sources on this point are unclear, and he thoroughly conflates traditions pertaining to the various classical rulers of the underworld.</ref> In the ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'', [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Earth) produced the narcissus at Zeus's request as a snare for Persephone; when she grasps it, a chasm opens up and the "Host to Many" (Hades) seizes her.<ref>''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'', lines 7–9, as cited by Radford, ''Lost Girls'', p. 145; Clayton Zimmerman, ''The Pastoral Narcissus: A Study of the First Idyll of Theocritus'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 1994), p. 2.</ref> Narcissus wreaths were used in early times to crown Demeter and Persephone, as well as the Furies ([[Erinyes|Eumenides]]).<ref>Sophocles, ''Oedipus at Colonus'' 681, and [[scholion]], on Demeter and Persephone (the two "Great Goddesses"); [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]], fragment 94, on the Eumenides; Zimmerman, ''The Pastoral Narcissus'', p. 2; Jan Coenradd Kamerbeek, ''The Plays of Sophocles, Commentaries: The Oedipus Colonus'' (Brill, 1984), vol. 7, p. 106, noting that garlands of flowers were expressly forbidden at the [[Thesmophoria]]; James C. Hogan, ''A Commentary on the Plays of Sophocles'' (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991), p. 99.</ref> The flower was associated with narcotic drugginess (''narkê'', "torpor"),<ref>"Death and Greek Myths," in ''Greek and Egyptian Mythologies'', edited by Yves Bonnefoy (University of Chicago Press, 1991, 1992), p. 110.</ref> [[fascinus|erotic fascination]],<ref>Zimmerman, ''The Pastoral Narcissus'', p. 2; Carlin A. Barton, ''The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster'' (Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 92. The [[phallus]] as a magic charm was the remedy for ''[[invidia]]'' or the evil eye, a self-induced form of which was the ruin of [[Narcissus (mythology)|the mythological figure Narcissus]].</ref> and imminent death;<ref>On the difficulty of identifying precisely which flower the ancients meant by "narcissus," see [[Richard Claverhouse Jebb|R.C. Jebb]], ''Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments'' (Cambridge University Press, 1900, 3rd edition), p. 115.</ref> to dream of crowning oneself with narcissus was a bad sign.<ref>[[Artemidorus]], ''[[Oneirocritica]]'' 1.77, as noted by Jebb, ''Sophocles'', p. 115.</ref> In the [[Narcissus (mythology)|myth of Narcissus]], the flower is created when a beautiful, self-absorbed youth rejects sexuality and is condemned to perpetual self-love along the [[Styx]].<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 3.505; Zimmerman, ''The Pastoral Narcissus'', p. 48. The Styx here is a pool.</ref>

Conti's inclusion of ''adianthus'' (''[[Adiantum]]'' in modern nomenclature) is less straightforward. The name, meaning "unmoistened" (Greek ''adianton''), was taken in antiquity to refer to the fern's ability to repel water. The plant, which grew in wet places, was also called ''[[Adiantum capillus-veneris|capillus veneris]]'', "hair of Venus," divinely dry when she emerged from the sea.<ref>Theophrastus, ''Historia plantarum'' 7.13–14; [[Nicander]], ''[[Theriaca (poem)|Theriaca]]'' 846; [[Rabelais]], ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]'' 4.24; Adams, ''The Seven Books of Paulus Aegineta'', pp. 22–23; Richard Hunter, ''Theocritus: A Selection'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 277, noting that "the association of lush vegetation ... with female 'otherness' and sexuality has a long history."</ref> [[History of medicine|Historian of medicine]] [[John M. Riddle]] has suggested that the ''adianthus'' was one of the ferns Dioscorides called ''[[asplenium|asplenon]]'' and prescribed as a contraceptive ''(atokios)''.<ref>Riddle, ''Contraception and Abortion'', pp. 31, 82, 180 (note 5).</ref> The associations of Proserpine (Persephone) and the maidenhair are alluded to by [[Samuel Beckett]] in a 1946 poem, in which the [[self]] is a [[Allegory of the Cave|Platonic cave]] with ''[[:fr:capillaire|capillaires]]'',<!-- this link is a dab page on wikipédia.fr; please do not change, as the ambiguity of meaning is deliberate and an accurate representation of the intentions of the source text--> in French both "maidenhair fern" and "[[blood vessel]]s".<ref>[[Samuel Beckett]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=DFUc5K_J6JQC&dq=%22Jusque+dans+la+caverne+ciel+et+sol%22&pg=PA51 "Jusque dans la caverne ciel et sol"], the last of twelve poems in the cycle ''Poèmes 38–39'' (1946); C.J. Ackerley and S.E. Gontarski, ''The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett'' (Grove Press, 2004), pp. 293, 443, 599.</ref>

[[File:25270- Dionysos temple pediment.jpg|thumb|270px|Pediment of an ancient Greek temple with a symposium scene of Dionysus and Pluto, 500s BC, [[Archaeological Museum of Corfu]].]]

The cypress (Greek ''cyparissus'', Latin ''cupressus'') has traditional associations with mourning.<ref>Bernabé and Jiménez San Cristóbal, ''Instructions for the Netherworld'', p. 25.</ref> In ancient [[Attica]], households in mourning were garlanded with cypress,<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 3.680.</ref> and it was used to fumigate the air during [[cremation]]s.<ref>[[Isidore of Seville]], ''[[Etymologiae]]'' 17.7.34.</ref> In the myth of [[Cyparissus]], a youth was transformed into a cypress, consumed by grief over the accidental death of a pet [[Red Deer|stag]].<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 10.106ff.; Servius, note to Vergil's ''[[Georgics]]'' 1.20.</ref> A "white cypress" is part of the topography of the underworld that recurs in the [[Totenpass|Orphic gold tablets]] as a kind of beacon near the entrance, perhaps to be compared with the [[Tree of Life]] in various world mythologies. The description of the cypress as "white" (Greek ''leukē''), since the botanical tree is dark, is symbolic, evoking the white garments worn by initiates or the clothing of a corpse, or the pallor of the dead. In Orphic funeral rites, it was forbidden to make coffins of cypress.<ref>Bernabé and Jiménez San Cristóbal, ''Instructions for the Netherworld'', pp. 25–28.</ref>

The tradition of the mystery religions favors Pluton/Hades as a loving and faithful partner to Persephone, but one ancient myth that preserves a lover for him parallels the abduction and also has a vegetative aspect.<ref>The nymph [[Minthe|Minthē]], a rival for the attentions of ''Hades'' (not named as Pluto), was transformed by Persephone into the mint plant, a major ingredient in the ritual drink of the mysteries ([[Strabo]] 8.3.14).</ref> A Roman source says that Pluto fell in love with [[Leuce (mythology)|Leuca]] (Greek ''Leukē'', "White"), the most beautiful of the nymphs, and abducted her to live with him in his realm. After the long span of her life came to its end, he memorialized their love by creating a white tree in the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]]. The tree was the [[Populus alba|white poplar]] (Greek ''leukē''), the leaves of which are white on one side and dark on the other, representing the duality of upper and underworld.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to [[Vergil]]'s ''[[Eclogues|Eclogue]]'' 7.61. Persephone is not mentioned.</ref> A wreath of white poplar leaves was fashioned by Heracles to mark his [[descent to the underworld|ascent from the underworld]], an ''[[aition]]'' for why it was worn by initiates<ref>Bernabé and Jiménez San Cristóbal, ''Instructions for the Netherworld'', pp. 93 and 124–125, citing [[Harpocration]].</ref> and by champion athletes participating in [[Funeral games (antiquity)|funeral games]].<ref>Arthur Calvert, ''P. Vergili Maronis. Aeneidos Liber V'' (Cambridge University Press, 1879), p. 48. This was a particular custom of the [[Rhodians]]; the heroine [[Tlepolemus#Polyxo|Polyxo]] awarded white poplar wreaths to child athletes at the games she presented in honor of her husband; Pierre Grimal, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'' (Blackwell, 1986, 1996), p. 385.</ref> Like other plants associated with Pluto, white poplar was regarded as a contraceptive in antiquity.<ref>Riddle, ''Contraception and Abortion'', p. 33.</ref> The relation of this tree to the white cypress of the mysteries is debated.<ref>[[Arthur Bernard Cook]], ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion'' (Cambridge University Press, 1925), pp. 420–422; Bernabé and Jiménez San Cristóbal, ''Instructions for the Netherworld'', pp. 25–26; W.K.C. Guthrie, ''Orpheus and Greek Religion'' (Princeton University Press, 1952, 1993), p. 182.</ref>