Editing Pluto (mythology) (section)

=== Bident ===
[[File:Hendrick Goltzius 003.jpg|thumb|upright|''Pluto'' (1588–89) with bident, [[chiaroscuro]] [[woodcut]] from a series on gods and goddesses by [[Hendrik Goltzius]]]]
No ancient image of the ruler of the underworld can be said with certainty to show him with a [[bident]],<ref>A.L. Millin, "Mythologie," in ''Magasin Encyclopédique'' (Paris, 1808), p. 283; G.T. Villenave, ''Les métamorphoses d'Ovide'' (Paris, 1806), p. 307; [[Arthur Bernard Cook]], ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion'' (Oxford University Press, 1924), vol. 2, p. 798 ff.; John G. Fitch, ''Seneca's ''Hercules Furens'': A Critical Text With Introduction and Commentary'' (Cornell University Press, 1987), p.</ref> though the ornamented tip of his scepter may have been misunderstood at times as a bident.<ref>Cook, ''Zeus'', vol. 2, p. 801.</ref> In the Roman world, the bident (from ''bi-'', "two" + ''dent-'', "teeth") was an agricultural implement. It may also represent one of the [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#manubia|three types of lightning]] wielded by [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], the Roman counterpart of Zeus, and the Etruscan [[Tinia]]. The later notion that the ruler of the underworld wielded a trident or bident can perhaps be traced to a line in [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' ("Hercules Enraged"), in which Father Dis, the Roman counterpart of Pluto, uses a three-pronged spear to drive off [[Hercules in ancient Rome|Hercules]] as he attempts to invade Pylos. Seneca calls Dis the "Infernal Jove"<ref>''Inferni Iovis'' ([[genitive]] case), ''Hercules Furens'' line 47, in the prologue spoken by [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]].</ref> or the "dire Jove"<ref>''Diro Iovi'', line 608 of ''Hercules Furens''; compare Vergil, ''[[Aeneid]]'' 4.638, ''Iove Stygio'', the "Jove of the [[Styx]]". Fitch, ''Seneca's Hercules Furens'', p. 156.</ref> (the Jove who gives dire or ill omens, ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#dirae|dirae]])'', just as in the Greek tradition, ''Plouton'' is sometimes identified as a "chthonic Zeus." That the trident and bident might be somewhat interchangeable is suggested by a Byzantine [[scholiast]], who mentions Poseidon being armed with a bident.<ref>Codex Augustanus, note to [[Euripides]]' ''[[Phoenician Women]]'', line 188, as cited by Cook, ''Zeus'', vol. 2, p. 806, note 6.</ref>

In the Middle Ages, classical underworld figures began to be depicted with a pitchfork.<ref>Cook, ''Zeus'', vol. 2, p. 803.</ref> [[Early Christian]] writers had identified the classical underworld with Hell, and its denizens as demons or devils.<ref>[[Friedrich Solmsen]], "The Powers of Darkness in Prudentius' ''Contra Symmachum'': A Study of His Poetic Imagination," ''Vigiliae Christianae'' 19.4 (1965), pp. 238, 240–248 ''et passim''.</ref> In the Renaissance, the bident became a conventional attribute of Pluto. In an influential ceiling mural depicting the [[Cupid and Psyche#The Wedding of Cupid and Psyche|wedding of Cupid and Psyche]], painted by [[Raphael]]'s workshop for the [[Villa Farnesina]] in 1517, Pluto is shown holding the bident, with [[Cerberus]] at his side, while Neptune holds the trident.<ref>Richard Stemp, ''The Secret Language of the Renaissance: Decoding the Hidden Symbolism of Italian Art'' (Duncan Baird, 2006), p. 114; Clare Robertson et al., ''Drawings by the Carracci from British Collections'' (Ashmolean Museum, 1996), p. 78.</ref> Perhaps influenced by this work, [[Agostino Carracci]] originally depicted Pluto with a bident in a preparatory drawing for [[#Euhemerism and Latinization|his painting ''Pluto'']] (1592), in which the god ended up holding his characteristic key.<ref>Robertson et al., ''Drawings by the Carracci from British Collections'', pp. 78–79.</ref> In [[Caravaggio]]'s ''[[#Orphic and philosophical systems|Giove, Nettuno e Plutone]]'' (ca. 1597), a ceiling mural based on [[alchemy|alchemical]] allegory, it is Neptune who holds the bident.<ref name="Gilbert-p124-125">Creighton Gilbert, ''Caravaggio and His Two Cardinals'' (Penn State University Press, 1995), pp. 124–125.</ref>