Editing Pluto (mythology) (section)

==== Plutonius ====
[[File:Serapis.JPG|thumb|left|Serapis with moon and sun on oil lamp]]
In the [[Hellenistic era]], the title or epithet ''Plutonius'' is sometimes affixed to the names of other deities. In the [[Hermetica|Hermetic Corpus]],<ref>In the Latin dialogue ''Asclepius'' sometimes attributed to [[Apuleius]]; see B.L. Hijmans, "Apuleius, Philosophus Platonicus," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.36.1 (1987), p. 441, ''et passim'' on the question of authorship.</ref> Jupiter Plutonius "rules over earth and sea, and it is he who nourishes mortal things that have soul and bear fruit."<ref>[[File:Bardo Baal Thinissut.jpg|thumb|75px|[[Baal-Hammon]] ]]''Terrae vero et mari dominatur Iupiter Plutonius, et hic nutritor est animantium mortalium et fructiferarum'' (''Asclepius'' 27), noted by G.F. Hildebrand, ''L. Apuleii Opera Omnia'' (Leipzig, 1842), p. 314, as equivalent to the Pluto described by [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' 1.780, where, however, the god is called Dis and not Pluto. Translation from Brian P. Copenhaver, ''Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius'' (Cambridge University Press, 1992, 2002), p. 83; see also note to the passage p. 245. Influence from [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]], particularly the figure of [[Baal-Hammon]], may explain this particular syncretism; [[Jean-Pierre Mahé]], ''Le fragment du "Discours parfait" dans la Bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi'', ''Colloque International sur les textes de Nag hammadi (Québec, 22–25 août 1978)'' (Éditions Peeters, 1981), p. 310.</ref>

In [[History of Alexandria#Ptolemaic era|Ptolemaic Alexandria]], at the site of a dream oracle, [[Serapis]] was identified with Aion Plutonius.<ref>[[Alexander romance|Pseudo-Callisthenes]], I.30–33, as cited by Jarl Fossum, "The Myth of the Eternal Rebirth: Critical Notes on G.W. Bowersock, ''Hellenism in Late Antiquity''," ''Vigiliae Christianae'' 53.3 (1999), p. 309, note 15. On the oracle and for the passage in which Aion Plutonius is named, see Irad Malkin, ''Religion and Colonization in Ancient Greece'' (Brill, 1987), p. 107, especially note 87.</ref> [[Gilles Quispel]] conjectured that this figure results from the integration of the Orphic Phanes into [[Mithraic mysteries|Mithraic religion]] at Alexandria, and that he "assures the eternity of the city," where the birth of [[Aion (deity)|Aion]] was celebrated at the sanctuary of Kore on 6 January.<ref>"On this day and at this hour the Virgin gave birth to Aion": [[Gilles Quispel]], "Hermann Hesse and Gnosis," in ''Gnostica, Judaica, Catholica: Collected Essays'' (Brill, 2008), p. 258, noting that this date coincided with [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] and was a new year's celebration.</ref> In Latin, ''Plutonius'' can be an [[adjective]] that simply means "of or pertaining to Pluto."<ref>As at [[Horace]], ''Carmen'' 1.4.17, where the ''domus ... Plutonia'' renders in Latin the Greek phrase "house of Hades."</ref>