Pluto (mythology) - Mysteries and Cult

Mysteries and Cult

As Pluto gained importance within the Eleusinian Mysteries throughout the 5th century BC as an embodiment of agricultural wealth, the name Hades was increasingly reserved for the underworld as a place. Neither Hades nor Pluto was one of the traditional Twelve Olympians, and Hades seems to have received limited cult, perhaps only at Elis, where the temple was opened once a year. During the time of Plato, the Athenians periodically honored the god called Plouton with the "strewing of a couch" (tên klinên strôsai). At Eleusis, Plouton had his own priestess. Pluto was worshipped with Persephone as a divine couple at Knidos, Ephesos, Mytilene, and Sparta as well as at Eleusis, where they were known simply as God (Theos) and Goddess (Thea).

In the ritual texts of the mystery religions preserved by the so-called Orphic or Bacchic gold tablets, the earliest extant examples of which date from the late 5th century BC, the name Hades appears more frequently than Plouton. Hades, however, most often refers to the underground place, and Plouton to the ruler who presides over it in a harmonious partnership with Persephone. By the end of the 4th century BC, the name Plouton appears in Greek metrical inscriptions. Two fragmentary tablets greet Pluto and Persephone jointly, and the divine couple appear as welcoming figures in a metrical epitaph:

I know that even below the earth, if there is indeed a reward for the worthy ones,
the first and foremost honors, nurse, shall be yours, next to Persephone and Pluto.

Hesychius identifies Pluto with Eubouleus, but other ancient sources distinguish between these two underworld deities, and in the Mysteries Eubouleus plays the role of a torchbearer, possibly a guide for the initiate's return.