Orcus
| Orcus | |
|---|---|
God of the underworld | |
| Member of the di selecti | |
 Orcus Mouth, a 16th-century folly in the Gardens of Bomarzo | |
| Other names | Dis Pater, Hades (Pluto) |
| Abode | Hades, Underworld |
| Gender | Male |
| Equivalents | |
| Etruscan | Orcus |
| Greek | Horkos, Hades |
Orcus was a god of the underworld in Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. His origins are disputed: some scholars regard him as a native Roman underworld deity, others as derived from Etruscan or Greek tradition, his name being borrowed from the near-homophone Horkos (Ancient Greek: ὅρκος, "oath"), the son of Eris who punished broken oaths, an association that led ancient scholars to describe Orcus himself as a punisher of perjurers. In time his figure merged with those of Dis Pater and Pluto.