Pluto, god of the Underworld

Imagine being stuck underground for eternity just because your brother cheated on a simple drawing. This exact situation happened to Pluto, god of the Underworld. Pluto became god of the Underworld after his brother’s, Jupiter and Neptune, became the rulers of the sky and sea. Pluto wasn’t a very social god, so he spent most of his time in the Underworld. He also wasn’t a celebrated god like his two brothers, but he was known as the most accepting god because he allowed everyone to enter the Underworld. Because the Underworld was where mortals spent the eternity of their afterlife, Pluto was the second most important god out of all his siblings, following Jupiter.

Pluto was the son of Rhea and Saturn. He had two brothers and three sisters: Vesta, Juno, and Ceres (Phillip 28). He also had a three-headed dog named Cerberus, which guarded the gate of the Underworld (Usher 25). Pluto’s wife, Proserpina, was the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. Not only was she the queen of the Underworld, she was the goddess of spring. She unwillingly became his wife after he abducted her from a field and she ate the food of marriage while in the Underworld, the pomegranate seed (Wickersham 122). Proserpina didn’t like the Underworld, even though Pluto was generous enough to dedicate a section of it to her.

The Underworld was divided into three sections and had five rivers. The most important river was the Styx River, the river of Hate. This was the river that Charon, ferryman of the Underworld, took souls across to the Plains of Judgment. Charon required a fee of one gold coin to take the soul across the river, and if the soul could not pay, they were stuck between the two worlds for a hundred years. After the soul was taken to the Plains of Judgment...

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...rpina, even though she did not love him back because she hated the Underworld. The Underworld was a dreaded place for some, but most people didn’t think it of as a horrible, hellish place. In spite of this, Proserpina was still unhappy with Pluto. No wonder he stayed in the Underworld.

Works Cited

1. Atsma, Aaron J. "HADES : Greek King of the Underworld, God of the Dead ; Mythology." HADES : Greek King of the Underworld, God of the Dead ; Mythology. Theoi Project, n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.

2. Philips, Neil. Myths and Legends. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1999. 28-29. Print.

3. "The Underworld." The Underworld. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.

4. Usher, Kerry, and John Sibbick. Heroes, Gods & Emperors from Roman Mythology. New York: Schocken, 1984. 25-26. Print.

5. Wickersham, John M. Myths and Legends of the World. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 122-23. Print.