Side by side, from the sources
Hades vs Pluto
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. The interpretatio romana at its most direct.
Deity · Greek · c. 700 BCE
Hades
also called Aidoneus, Plouton, Pluton
Ruler of the dead by lot rather than by punishment — a god of the underworld who is not evil, a distinction Christian cosmology cannot express.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Lord of the Underworld
- First attested
- The Iliad · c. 750 BCE
- Named there as
- Aïdes
- Texts naming it
- 4
- Powers attributed
- 3
100attestedGreek
Deity · Roman · c. 400 BCE
Pluto
also called Dis Pater, Orcus, Plouton, Pluton
The Roman Hades, whose alternative name Orcus survives in 'ogre' — and whose realm supplied Christian writers much of their imagery for hell.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Lord of the Underworld
- First attested
- The Aeneid · c. 19 BCE
- Named there as
- Dis
- Texts naming it
- 2
- Powers attributed
- 2
Where do they actually overlap?
Texts naming both
Powers credited to both
Common questions
Are Hades and Pluto the same figure?
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. The interpretatio romana at its most direct. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.
Which is older, Hades or Pluto?
Hades is the older name: first attested around c. 700 BCE, against c. 400 BCE for Pluto. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.
Do any texts name both Hades and Pluto?
Yes — 1 text names both. A single text naming both figures is the strongest evidence available here that its author treated them as distinct, whatever later writers did with the pair.