Orcus (mythology)

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Orcus (mythology)

Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman mythology

Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
. He was more equivalent to the Roman Pluto than to the Greek Hades

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
, and later identified with Dis Pater

Dis Pater

Dis Pater, or Dispater , was a Roman mythology and Celtic polytheism of the underworld, later subsumed by Pluto or Hades . Originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman deities Pluto and Orcus , becoming an underworld....
. He was portrayed in paintings in Etruscan tombs as a hairy, bearded giant. A temple to Orcus may have existed on the Palatine Hill

Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other....
in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
. It is likely that he was transliterated from the Greek daemon

Daemon

The term Daemon, 'd?mon, or demon has several meanings:For more possible meanings see Demon and Daimon *Daemon - See also: Agathodaemon, Cacodemon, Demon...
Horkos, the personification of Oaths and a son of Eris

Eris

Eris typically refers to:* Eris , the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System * Eris , in Greek mythology the goddess of discord, and the Goddess of Discordianism...
.

origins of Orcus may have lain in Etruscan

Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
religion.

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Encyclopedia

Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman mythology

Roman mythology

Hades

Dis Pater

Palatine Hill

Rome

Daemon

Eris

Eris typically refers to:* Eris , the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System * Eris , in Greek mythology the goddess of discord, and the Goddess of Discordianism...
.

Origins

The origins of Orcus may have lain in Etruscan

Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
religion. Orcus was a name used by Roman writers to identify a Gaul

Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
ish god of the underworld. The so-called Tomb of Orcus

Tomb of Orcus

The Tomb of Orcus , sometimes called the Tomb of Murina , is a 4th century BC Etruscan civilization hypogeum in Tarquinia, Italy. Discovered in 1868, it displays Hellenism influences in its remarkable murals, which include the portrait of Velia Velcha, an Etruscan society, and the only known pictorial representation of the demon Tuchu...
, an Etruscan site at Tarquinia

Tarquinia

Tarquinia, formerly Corneto and in Antiquity Tarquinii, is an ancient city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy.History ...
, is a misnomer, resulting from its first discoverers mistaking as Orcus a hairy, bearded giant that was actually a figure of a Cyclops

Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
.

'Orcus', in Roman mythology, was an alternative name for Pluto, Hades, or Dis Pater, god of the land of the dead. The name "Orcus" seems to have been given to his evil and punishing side, as the god who tormented evildoers in the afterlife. Like the name Hades (or the Norse Hel

HEL

HEL may refer to:* Helsinki-Vantaa Airport* Hardware Emulation Layer* Hensall railway station, England; National Rail station code HEL* High energy laser ...
, for that matter), "Orcus" could also mean the land of the dead.

From Orcus' association with death and the underworld, his name came to be used for demons and other underworld monsters, particularly in Italian where orco refers to a kind of monster found in fairy-tales that feeds on human flesh. The French word ogre (appearing first in Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault

File:ChPerrault.jpg'Charles Perrault' was a France author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , La Belle au bois dormant , Le Ma?tre chat ou le Chat bott? , Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre , La Barbe bleue , Le Petit Pouce...
's fairy-tales) may have come from variant forms of this word, orgo or ogro; in any case, the French ogre
Ogre

An ogre is a large, cruel and hideous humanoid monster], featured in mythology, folklore and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature....
and the Italian orco are exactly the same sort of creature. An early example of an orco appears in Ludovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto was an Italians poet. He is best known as the author of the romance Epic poetry Orlando Furioso . The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato, describes the adventures of Charlemagne, Roland, and the Franks as they battle against the Saracen with divergents into many side plots....
's Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso

Orlando Furioso is an Italian literature romance epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532....
, as a bestial, blind, tusk-faced monster inspired by the Cyclops

Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
of the Odyssey

Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
; this orco should not be confused with the orca
Orca

The Killer Whale or Orca , less commonly, Blackfish or Seawolf, is the largest species of the dolphin family. It is found in all the world's oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctica regions to warm, tropical seas....
, a sea-monster also appearing in Ariosto.

In Popular Culture

This orco was the inspiration to J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Order of the British Empire was an English people English literature, poetry, Philology, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion....
's orc
Orc

Orc is a word used to refer to various race of tough and warlike humanoid creatures in various fantasy settings, appearing originally in the stories of Middle-earth written by J....
s in his The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is an Epic poetry high fantasy novel written by Philology J.R.R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work....
. In a text published in The War of the Jewels
The War of the Jewels

The War of the Jewels is the 11th volume of Christopher Tolkien series The History of Middle-earth, analyzing the unpublished manuscripts of his father J....
, Tolkien stated:

Note. The word used in translation of Q urko, S orch, is Orc. But that is because of the similarity of the ancient English word orc, 'evil spirit or bogey', to the Elvish words. There is possibly no connexion between them. The English word is now generally supposed to be derived from Latin Orcus.

Also, in an unpublished letter sent to Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe is an United States science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic....
, Tolkien also made this comment:

Orc I derived from Anglo-Saxon, a word meaning demon, usually supposed to be derived from the Latin Orcus -- Hell. But I doubt this, though the matter is too involved to set out here.

From this use, countless other fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of Plot , Theme , and/or Setting . Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three ....
games and works of fiction have borrowed the concept of the orc.

Additionally, Orcus appears as the Lord of Demons in Fred Saberhagen

Fred Saberhagen

Fred Thomas Saberhagen was a Chicago-born American science fiction and fantasy fiction author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction stories....
's Empire of the East series; in the role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a role-playing game system of rules and guidelines....
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by TSR, Inc....
, Orcus

Orcus (Dungeons & Dragons)

Orcus is the fictional Demon lord , and lord of the Undead in many campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. He is named after Orcus of Roman mythology....
is a demon prince

Demon lord (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demon lords are Demon #Tanar'ri who have gained great power and established a position of preeminence among demonkind....
and lord of the undead

Undead (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, undead is a "Creature Type " or a keyword, depending on which edition of the game rules are used....
; through this latter use Orcus appears in the computer game NetHack

NetHack

NetHack is a single-player roguelike video game originally released in 1987 in video gaming. It is a descendant of an earlier game called Hack , which is a descendant of Rogue ....
as a demon prince found in Gehennom who holds a wand of death. As an enemy of Satan and a king of the underworld, he is leader of one of Hell's least evil demon factions in Warrior Nun Areala
Warrior Nun Areala

Warrior Nun Areala is a manga-style American comic book character created by Ben Dunn and published by Antarctic Press. First appearing in Ninja High School #38 1987), she has since appeared in her own comic books beginning with Warrior Nun Areala Vol....
. He also appears as a character in Christopher Moore's novel A Dirty Job
A Dirty Job

A Dirty Job is the ninth novel by Christopher Moore , published in 2006. While reflecting the author's Absurdist fiction tendencies, the content of the novel draws in no small part from his own experiences in tending to the needs of close family and friends who were in the stages of dying....
, in which he is associated with the Morrigan

Morrígan

The Morr?gan or M?rr?gan is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts....
, although no such connection exists in classical mythology. A version of Orcus is also the main character of the web comic Orcusville

There is also a trans-Neptunian object

Trans-Neptunian object

A trans-Neptunian object is any object in the solar system that orbits the sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune . The Kuiper belt, scattered disk, and Oort cloud are three divisions of this volume of space....
called 90482 Orcus

90482 Orcus

90482 Orcus is a Kuiper Belt object and a likely dwarf planet that was discovered by Michael E. Brown of California Institute of Technology, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory, and David L....
after this deity.

Orcus (mythology)

Origins

In Popular Culture

See also

External links