Dīs Pater

Dīs Pater, also known as Dīs, was a Roman god of soil fertility and mineral wealth, as well as the Underworld.
Over time he became syncretised with the Greek god Hades, who held a similar position within the Greek pantheon. Through this syncretisation he became the son of the Saturn, the god of wealth and agriculture, and Ops, goddess of Earth and fertility, and brother of Jupiter, Neptune, Ceres, Vesta and Juno. He would also adopt the myth about the abduction of Proserpina.
Around 249 BC to 207 BC, the Roman senator Lucius Catellius ordained a festival for Dīs and Proserpina, that would held every hundred years. Over time the name of Pluto would also be used as the Roman god of the underworld, which was originally an epithet of Hades.
His name would, alongside that of Pluto, would also often be used in the context of the Devil in later Christian literature. The most famous instance are presumably within Dante Alighieri Divine Comedy, notably in Inferno, where Dīs is used as a mother name for Lucifer as well as the name of the city that encompasses the sixth through the ninth circles of Hell.
Category:Deities
Category:Roman deities
Category:Underworld deities