Editing Pluto (mythology) (section)

== In Greek literature and philosophy ==
[[File:Locri Pinax Of Persephone And Hades.jpg|left|thumb|Persephone and Pluto<ref>Identified as Pluto by Bernabé and Jiménez San Cristóbal, ''Instructions for the Netherworld'', p. 275.</ref> or Hades<ref>Identified as Hades by Hansen, ''Classical Mythology'', p. 181.</ref> on a [[pinax]] from [[Locri]]]]
The name ''Plouton'' is first used in [[ancient Greek literature|Greek literature]] by [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Athenian playwrights]].<ref name="Farnell" /> In [[Aristophanes]]' [[Old Comedy|comedy]] ''[[The Frogs]]'' (''Batrachoi'', 405 BC), in which "the Eleusinian colouring is in fact so pervasive,"<ref>A.M. Bowie, ''Aristophanes: Myth, Ritual and Comedy'' (Cambridge University Press, 1993, 1996), p. 229.</ref> the ruler of the underworld is one of the characters, under the name of ''Plouton''. The play depicts a mock [[descent to the underworld]] by the god [[Dionysus]] to bring back one of the dead [[Greek tragedy|tragic playwrights]] in the hope of restoring [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Athenian theater]] to its former glory. Pluto is a silent presence onstage for about 600 lines presiding over a contest among the tragedians, then announces that the winner has the privilege of returning to the [[Upper World (Greek)|upper world]].<ref>As summarized by [[Benjamin Bickley Rogers]], ''The Comedies of Aristophanes'' (London, 1902), pp. xvii and 214 (note to line 1414).</ref> The play also draws on beliefs and imagery from Orphic and Dionysiac cult, and rituals pertaining to Ploutos (Plutus, "wealth").<ref>Bowie, ''Aristophanes'', pp. 231–233, 269–271.</ref> In a fragment from another play by Aristophanes, a character "is comically singing of the excellent aspects of being dead", asking in reference to the tripartition of sovereignty over the world:
<blockquote><poem>
And where do you think Pluto gets his name [i.e. "rich"],
if not because he took the best portion?
:::...
How much better are things below than what Zeus possesses!<ref>Bernabé and Jiménez San Cristóbal, ''Instructions for the Netherworld'', pp. 127–128.</ref>
</poem></blockquote>

To Plato, the god of the underworld was "an agent in [the] beneficent cycle of death and rebirth" meriting worship under the name of ''Plouton'', a giver of spiritual wealth.<ref>Morrow, ''Plato's Cretan City'', pp. 452–453.</ref> In the dialogue ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', Plato has [[Socrates]] explain the etymology of ''Plouton'', saying that Pluto gives wealth (''ploutos''), and his name means "giver of wealth, which comes out of the earth beneath". Because the name Hades is taken to mean "the invisible", people fear what they cannot see; although they are in error about the nature of this deity's power, Socrates says, "the office and name of the God really correspond":
<blockquote>
He is the perfect and accomplished [[Sophist]], and the great benefactor of the inhabitants of the other world; and even to us who are upon earth he sends from below exceeding blessings. For he has much more than he wants down there; wherefore he is called Pluto (or the rich). Note also, that he will have nothing to do with men while they are in the body, but only when the soul is liberated from the desires and evils of the body. Now there is a great deal of philosophy and reflection in that; for in their liberated state he can bind them with the desire of virtue, but while they are flustered and maddened by the body, not even father [[Cronus|Cronos]] himself would suffice to keep them with him in his own far-famed chains.<ref>Translation by Benjamin Jowett, ''The Dialogues of Plato'' (London, 1873), vol. 1.</ref>
</blockquote>
Since "the union of body and soul is not better than the loosing,"<ref>[[Plato]], ''Laws'' 828d, translation from Long, ''The Twelve Gods'', p. 69.</ref> death is not an evil. [[Walter Burkert]] thus sees Pluto as a "god of dissolution."<ref>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'' (Harvard University Press, 1985, originally published 1977 in German), pp. 231, 336. See also ''[[Homo Necans]]'' (University of California Press, 1983, originally published 1972 in German), p. 143.</ref> Among the titles of Pluto was ''Isodaitēs'', "divider into equal portions," a title that connects him to the fate goddesses the [[Moirai]].<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]], entry on Ἰσοδαίτης, 778 in the 1867 edition of Schmidt, as translated and discussed by Richard Seaford, ''Money and the Early Greek Mind: Homer, Philosophy, Tragedy'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 51. Hesychius notes that Isodaites may alternatively refer to a son of Pluto as well as Pluto himself.</ref> ''Isodaitēs'' was also a cult title for Dionysus and [[Helios]].<ref>H.S. Versnel, ''Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual'' (Brill, 1993, 1994), p. 119, especially note 93.</ref>

In ordering his ideal city, Plato proposed a calendar in which Pluto was honored as a benefactor in the twelfth month, implicitly ranking him as one of the twelve principal deities.<ref>[[Plato]], ''Laws'' 828 B-D; Morrow, ''Plato's Cretan City'' p. 452; Long, ''The Twelve Gods'', p. 179.</ref> In the [[Attic calendar]], the twelfth month, more or less equivalent to June, was [[Skirophorion]]; the name may be connected to the rape of Persephone.<ref>Morrow, ''Plato's Cretan City'', p. 453; Long, ''The Twelve Gods'', p. 179.</ref>