Orcus
Orcus ( German : Orkus ) was one of the names for the god of the underworld in Roman mythology . Other names were Pluto or Dis Pater . Orcus was used to describe his evil, punishing side, the god who tortured the dead in the afterlife . However, he was also attributed the properties of a psychopomp , as which he led the souls of the deceased into the underworld. As a place of punishment, it was not considered to be an absolutely bad stay of the dead, from which redemption could be hoped as a purified spirit.
Orcus may have its origins in the Etruscan religion . Orcus was also a name used by Roman authors to refer to a Gallic god of the underworld.
In German , "Orkus" is used in the sense of abyss, realm of the dead or underworld. Is z. For example, when speaking of something going into the orcus , it means that it is left to decay. A better-known expression in this context is the orcus of forgetting , which is used synonymously with the term oblivion .
literature
- Wolfgang Fauth : The mouth of Orcus. About a peculiarity of the Roman-Etruscan concept of the underworld. In: Numen. International Review for the History of Religions 21 (1974), pp. 105-127
- F. Giudice: Orcus . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume VII, Zurich / Munich 1994, pp. 61-63.
- Wilhelm Mackauer: Orcus. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVIII, 1, Stuttgart 1939, Col. 908-928.
- Rudolf Peter: Orcus . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.1, Leipzig 1902, Col. 940-945 ( digitized version ).
- Karin Schlapbach: Orcus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 9, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01479-7 , column 12.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Christian Theophil Schuch : private antiquities, or scientific, religious and domestic life of the Romans. A teaching and manual for students and friends of antiquity., Karlsruhe 1842, pp. 360–361.