Who is Pluto named after?
Pluto was named after the Roman god of the underworld. In Roman mythology, he kidnapped Proserpina (Persephone) so he could marry her. This made her mother, the goddess of agriculture, very sad, causing winter. To end winter, Jupiter, his brother, sent Mercury to get her back. Pluto agreed that she could go back, assuming she had not eaten anything from the underworld. However, she had eaten six pomegranate seeds, so Jupiter decided she had to spend six months in the underworld each year. This is the Roman myth of winter. When she goes to the underworld, everything stops growing. When she comes back, her mother is happy again, and life returns.
