Roman underworld

While most strongly influenced by Greek mythology, the Roman view of an underworld, was, in the earliest ages, simply a realm below the Earth, a realm of riches, a place where gods and goddesses awaited the spring. Dis Pater, originally an Etruscan god of riches, became the early Roman god who ruled over the underworld. He was the god of the precious gems and metals found deep below the surface of the Earth. Proserpina, an ancient goddess of fertility and of the germination of seeds, was originally associated with Dis. Over time, however, the underworld became connected with death, not only of people but of nature, as winter settled in and people awaited spring. Dis Pater and Proserpina emerged from the underworld to plant seeds and return life to the Earth. By the middle of the third century b.c., Dis Pater and Proserpina had also become the rulers of the realm of dead spirits. Together they became an official part of the Roman religious ceremonies. Beginning in 249 b.c., Romans held games known as the Ludi Tarentini or Tarentine Games, to recognize, honor, and appease these two gods. Much of the mythology of Dis Pater and Proserpina had by this time taken on the stories of the Greek gods Hades (or Pluto) and Persephone, who ruled over a realm also known as Hades. However, Roman mythology also included spirits of the dead who did not appear to inhabit this under-world. The Manes, beneficial spirits of the dead, were called upon in ceremonies held over graves in February to watch over and protect the living. They were in turn ruled over by the goddess Mania, an ancient goddess of crossroads. The Lares, household gods, were believed to be the spirits of a family's ancestors who watched over the home. Romans also deified their founders, Aeneas and Romulus and Remus, and their emperors, without associating them with this underworld. By the first century b.c., Roman historians and poets were describing the underworld as a rugged, craggy, gloomy place inhabited by the spirits of the night and the souls of the dead. According to Virgil, in his masterpiece the Aeneid, the entrance to hell was located on the edge of Lake Averna, a lake in the center of a dormant volcanic crater near Naples, and also near the cave of the Sibyl of Cumae.