Editing Dis Pater (section)

==Mythology==

Dis Pater eventually became associated with death and the [[underworld]] because mineral wealth such as gems and precious metals came from underground, wherein lies the realm of the dead, i.e. [[Hades]]' ([[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto's]]) domain.

In being conflated with [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], Dis Pater took on some of the latter's [[Greek mythology|mythological]] attributes, being one of the three sons of [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] (Greek [[Cronus]]) and [[Ops]] (Greek [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]), along with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] (Greek [[Zeus]]) and [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] (Greek [[Poseidon]]). He ruled the underworld and the dead beside his wife, [[Proserpina]] (Greek [[Persephone]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Grimal |title=The Dictionary of Classical Mythology |year=1987 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/141 141, 177] |publisher=Oxford: Basil Blackwell |isbn=0-631-13209-0 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/141}}</ref> In literature, Dis Pater's name was commonly used as a symbolic and poetic way of referring to [[death]] itself.

Dis Pater was sometimes identified with the [[Sabine]] god [[Soranus (mythology)|Soranus]].<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]' commentary to [[Aeneid]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+11.785&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 XI. 785] "Mount Soracte is located in the territory of the Hirpini next to Via Flaminia. It was on this mountain that a sacrifice to Dis Pater was once performed – because it is devoted to chthonic deities – as wolves suddenly appeared and plundered the entrails from the ire. The shepherds chased the wolves for a long time, until they arrived at a cave emanating pestilential gases that killed people standing nearby. The reason for the emergence of this plague was that they had chased the wolves. They received a message that they could calm it down by imitating wolves; that means, living by plundering. They did so, and since then these people have been called Hirpi Sorani."</ref> [[Julius Caesar]], in his ''[[Commentaries on the Gallic Wars]]'' (''VI'':18), states that the [[Gauls]] all claimed descent from Dis Pater. This is an example of ''[[Interpretatio graeca#Interpretatio romana|interpretatio romana]]'': what Caesar meant was that the Gauls all claimed descent from a Gaulish god that he equated with the Roman Dis Pater. The identification of [[Gaulish Dis Pater]] has posed problems for scholars.<ref>{{cite book|last=Green|title=Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend| pages=81&ndash;82| publisher=London: Thames and Hudson| isbn=0-500-01516-3}}</ref> 

A [[scholium]] on the [[Pharsalia]] equates Dis Pater with [[Taranis]], the Gaulish god of thunder.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Rf8HAQAAIAAJ |title=Études celtiques |last=Vendryes |first=Joseph |year=1958 |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |language=fr}}</ref>{{quote needed|date=July 2020}}<!--identify the source, which century?--> In southern Germany and the Balkans, [[Aericura]] was considered a consort of Dis Pater.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}{{year needed|date=July 2020}}