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{{Short description|Greek god of wealth}}
{{About|the Greek mythological figure|other uses|Plutus (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox deity
|type = Greek
|symbols = [[Cornucopia]]
|name = Plutus
|god_of = God of wealth
|image = Eirene Ploutos Glyptothek Munich 219 n4.jpg
|caption = [[Eirene (Greek goddess)|Eirene]] with the infant Plutus: Roman copy after [[Cephisodotus the Elder|Kephisodotos]]' votive statue, c. 370 BC, in the Agora, Athens.
|parents = [[Demeter]] and [[Iasion]] ''or''<br> [[Tyche]]
|siblings = [[Persephone]], [[Despoina]], [[Arion (mythology)|Arion]], [[Philomelus]], [[Eubuleus]], [[Iacchus]]}}
{{Greek myth (personified)}}
In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], '''Plutus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|l|uː|t|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Πλοῦτος|Ploûtos|wealth}}) is the [[god]] and the [[personification]] of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture [[Demeter]] and the mortal [[Iasion]].
==Family==
Plutus is most commonly the son of [[Demeter]]<ref>[[Karl Kerenyi]], "We are not surprised to learn that the fruit of her love was Ploutos, 'riches'. What else could have sprung from the willingness of the grain goddess?" (''Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter'' (Bollingen) 1967, p 30).</ref> and [[Iasion]],<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D963 969]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#p235 5.77.1]; [[Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.4.7 2.4.7]; Grimal, s.v. Plutus, p. 378; Morford, p. 339; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Plutus.</ref> with whom she lay in a thrice-ploughed field. He is alternatively the son of the fortune goddess [[Tyche]].<ref name=":phae">[[Aesop]], ''[[Aesop's fables|Fables]]'' [http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/413.htm 413], [=[[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]] 4.12].</ref>
Two ancient depictions of Plutus, one of him as a little boy standing with a cornucopia before Demeter, and another inside the cornucopia being handed to Demeter by a goddess rising out of the earth, perhaps implying that he had been born in the Underworld, were interpreted by [[Karl Kerenyi]] to mean that Plutus was supposed to be the son of [[Hades]] and [[Persephone]], the king and the queen of the [[Greek Underworld|Underworld]],<ref>[[Karl Kerenyi]], "After the rape of Persephone a child was born, the little Ploutos, who resembled the ravisher, Plouton- Latinized as Pluto. ... In two representations of the Eleusinian goddesses intended for the general public, two magnificent vase paintings in late Attic style, we see the child; once as a little boy standing with a cornucopia before the enthroned Demeter, and once in the cornucopia being handed to Demeter by a goddess rising out of the earth- as though he had been born down there in the realm to which Kore had been carried away." (''Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter'' (Bollingen) 1967, p 31).</ref> though no such version is attested in any primary source.
==In the arts==
[[File:Istanbul - Museo archeol. - Tyche e Plutone - sec. II d.C. - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg|thumb|Polychrome marble statue depicting the goddess [[Tyche]] holding the infant Plutus in her arms, 2nd century AD, [[Istanbul Archaeological Museum]].]]
[[File:S03 06 01 020 image 2538.jpg|thumb| Sencathea [?] [Female figure] feeding infant Plutus from horn of plenty, relief, Rome. [[Brooklyn Museum]] Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection.]]
In the philosophized mythology of the later Classical period, Plutus is envisaged by [[Aristophanes]] as blinded by [[Zeus]], so that he would be able to dispense his gifts without prejudice; he is also lame, as he takes his time arriving, and winged, so he leaves faster than he came.<ref>''[[Plutus (play)|Plutus]]'' (''Wealth'', second version, 388 BC)</ref> When the god's sight is restored, in [[Plutus (play)|Aristophanes' comedy]], he is then able to determine who is deserving of wealth, creating havoc.
[[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]] records a [[fable]] where, after [[Hercules]] is received in Olympus, he greets all the gods but refuses to greet Plutus. When the king of gods [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] asks him why, he replies that he hates the god of riches due to Plutus favouring the wicked and the corrupt.<ref name=":phae"/>
Among the Eleusinian figures painted on [[Pottery of ancient Greece|Greek ceramics]], regardless of whether he is depicted as child or youthful ''[[ephebos|ephebe]]'', Plutus can be identified as the one bearing the [[cornucopia]]—horn of plenty. In later [[allegory|allegorical]] [[bas-reliefs]], Plutus is depicted as a boy in the arms of [[Eirene (Greek goddess)|Eirene]], as Prosperity is the gift of "Peace", or in the arms of [[Tyche]], the Fortune of Cities.
In [[Lucian of Samosata]]'s satirical dialogue ''Timon'', Plutus, the very embodiment of worldly goods written up in a parchment will, says to Hermes:
{{cquote|it is not Zeus who sends me, but Hades, who has his own ways of conferring wealth and making presents; Hades and Plutus are not unconnected, you see. When I am to flit from one house to another, they lay me on parchment, seal me up carefully, make a parcel of me and take me round. The dead man lies in some dark corner, shrouded from the knees upward in an old sheet, with the cats fighting for possession of him, while those who have expectations wait for me in the public place, gaping as wide as young swallows that scream for their mother's return.}}
{{anchor|dante_plutus}}In Canto VII of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante's]] ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', Plutus is a demon of wealth who guards the fourth circle of Hell, "The Hoarders and the Wasters". Dante likely included Plutus to symbolize the evil of hoarding wealth. He is known for saying the famous phrase, "[[Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe]]."
In addition,
[[Erasmus]] writes in [[The Praise of Folly]] that Folly is the offspring of Plutus. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1509erasmus-folly.asp | title=Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History }}</ref>
==Etymology==
Like many other figures in Greek and Roman mythology, Plutus' name is related to several English words. These include:
* [[Plutocracy]], rule by the wealthy, and [[:wikt:plutocrat|plutocrat]], one who rules by virtue of wealth
* [[:wikt:plutonomics|Plutonomics]], the study of wealth management
* [[wikt:plutolatry|Plutolatry]], the "worship" of money
* [[wikt:plutomania|Plutomania]], an excessive desire for wealth
==See also==
{{Commons category|Plutus}}
* [[Chrysus]]
* [[Kubera]]
* [[Mammon]]
* [[Pluto (mythology)]]
* [[Ploutonion]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}
==References==
* [[Aristophanes]], ''[[Plutus (play)|Plutus]]'' (''Wealth''), in ''Aristophanes, Frogs, Assemblywomen, Wealth,'' edited and translated by Jeffrey Henderson, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 180, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2002. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL180/2002/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99596-3}}.
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Library of History, Volume III: Books 4.59-8'', translated by [[Charles Henry Oldfather|C. H. Oldfather]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 340. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1939. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99375-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL340/1939/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version by Bill Thayer].
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}.
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/207 Online version at ToposText].
* [[Károly Kerényi|Kerényi, Karl]] (1967), ''Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter'', [[Princeton University Press]], 1991. {{ISBN|9780691019154}}.
* Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, ''Classical Mythology'', Eighth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-19-530805-1}}.
* ''[[The Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', second edition,  [[N. G. L. Hammond|Hammond, N.G.L.]] and [[Howard Hayes Scullard]] (editors), [[Oxford University Press]], 1992. {{ISBN|0-19-869117-3}}.
{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
{{wealth}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Abundance gods]]
[[Category:Fortune gods]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Children of Demeter]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Characters in the Divine Comedy]]