Orcus The so-called Tomb of Orcus, an Etruscan site at Tarquinia, is a misnomer, resulting from its first discoverers mistaking as Orcus a hairy, bearded giant that was actually a figure of a Cyclops. The Romans sometimes conflated Orcus with other gods such as Pluto, Hades, and 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, for that matter), "Orcus" could also mean the land of the dead. Orcus was
Gate deities of the underworld Gate deities of the underworld The Gate deities of the underworld were ancient Egyptian minor deities charged with guarding the gates of the Egyptian underworld. The Egyptians believed that in the netherworld, the Duat, there were various gates, doors and pylons crossed every night by the solar boat (Atet) of the sun-god Ra and by the souls directed to the world of the dead. Ancient funerary texts provide many different descriptions of the afterlife gates. Sometimes more than 1,000 guardian deities are listed. According to a more general view, every gate was guarded by a minor god who allowed access