Proserpina abduction by the god of the Underworld, her mother Ceres' frantic search for her, and her eventual but temporary restitution to the world above. In Latin literature, several versions are known, all similar in most respects to the myths of Greek Persephone's abduction by the King of the underworld, named variously in Greek sources as Hades or Pluto. "Hades" can mean both the hidden Underworld and its king ("The hidden one"), who in early Greek versions of the myth is a dark, unsympathetic figure; Persephone is "Kore" ("The Maiden"), taken against her will; in the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries, her captor
Pluto (mythology) 1597), a ceiling mural based on alchemical allegory, it is Neptune who holds the bident. The name "Plouton" is first used in Greek literature by Athenian playwrights. In Aristophanes' comedy "The Frogs" ("Batrachoi", 405 BC), in which "the Eleusinian colouring is in fact so pervasive," the ruler of the underworld is one of the characters, under the name of "Plouton". The play depicts a mock descent to the underworld by the god Dionysus to bring back one of the dead tragic playwrights in the hope of restoring Athenian theater to its former glory. Pluto is a silent presence onstage for