# "On my command, unleash Hell!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213 "2009-10-26T19:51:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/21 "2009-10-27T14:23:10Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Cite? If you’re thinking that has something to do with “plutocrat,” it doesn’t. (_ploutos_ is Greek for wealth, but Pluto was a _Roman_ god) Pluto was a Roman god with a Greek name. In Greek mythology, the God of the Underworld was called “Hades” (“the hidden one”) In Greek, Hades was also called Plauton (“The rich one”), because he was the god of everything below the earth. There was also another Greek god called Ploutos, the god of wealth, who tended to get conflated with Hades, and in some Greek myth, Ploutos was a son of Hades and Persephone. So, enter the Romans, who have their own gods of the Underworld, namely Orcus (from the Greek “horkos”, oath), God of the Underworld and punisher of broken oaths (Orcus was also the name of the Roman underworld), and Dis Pater (“Father Dis”, “Father of Wealth”). So, when the Romans come to learn about Hades/Plauton, they Latinize Plauton as Pluto, and associate him with the Latin gods Orcus and Dis Pater. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/22 "2009-10-27T14:39:52Z")
> [@](#): > > “On my signal, unleash hell!” Go watch it again. He’s talking to the guy holding his dog’s leash. His dog’s name is Hell. Right after he says it, they unleash Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/23 "2009-10-27T14:54:22Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Go watch it again. He’s talking to the guy holding his dog’s leash. His dog’s name is Hell. Right after he says it, they unleash Hell. Does that mean that before translation, his dog’s name is . . . Pluto? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/24 "2009-10-27T14:55:17Z")
This line actually took me “out of the movie”. Yeah, I know, they’re speaking English too, I can give that a pass, but the translation could’ve been more true to the era portrayed. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/25 "2009-10-27T14:56:33Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Ancient Romans did curse by Father Dis, though. So you’re saying they dissed people? ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/26 "2009-10-27T15:50:38Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Does that mean that before translation, his dog’s name is . . . Pluto? Sure why not. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/27 "2009-10-27T16:03:57Z")
Eh, the verbiage wasn’t the problem I had with that scene, but the fire arrows. It may surprise Hollywood, but arrows will kill you _even if you don’t light them on fire._ Lining up a few thousand archers or so with a supply of pitch-soaked rags and sputtering, open flame exposed to the vagaries of the wind _guarantees_ that there will be a raging fire among your archers; the only question is if it will precede their first shot and entirely negate them, or negate them after a few shots. Meanwhile, setting the woods on fire is just going to end the battle for everyone, and setting some Germanic tribesman’s furs on fire, _after killing him with an arrow,_ is of limited value unless it’s getting dark or something. Fire arrows were usually used for a specific purpose, and probably by archers maintaining careful separation – they’re for destroying siege engines, towns, or fortifications; they’re not anti-personnel weapons. But they look cool. More to the point, they look like modern tracer rounds. I think the inspiration for that scene in the movie was probably night footage of Baghdad. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/28 "2009-10-27T16:16:38Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > But they look cool. I think that’s Hollywood’s issue with Greco-Roman battles as a whole. The reason for their success was they stayed in formation and beat their enemies by discipline and endurance. That doesn’t look cool. 90 mins of anonymous hoplites/legionaries slowly wearing down their less disciplined “barbarian” foes and not breaking formation does not an exciting movie make. See 300 for more examples, they stayed in formation for about 30 secs. That said there are one or two other slight anachronisms in that movies (lack of archeological for the employment of trolls in the Persian army does for example). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/29 "2009-10-27T18:20:22Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > (lack of archeological for the employment of trolls in the Persian army does for example). I didn’t realize Peter Jackson directed 300? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/30 "2009-10-27T18:47:24Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Eh, the verbiage wasn’t the problem I had with that scene, but the fire arrows. > > It may surprise Hollywood, but arrows will kill you _even if you don’t light them on fire._ > > Lining up a few thousand archers or so with a supply of pitch-soaked rags and sputtering, open flame exposed to the vagaries of the wind _guarantees_ that there will be a raging fire among your archers; the only question is if it will precede their first shot and entirely negate them, or negate them after a few shots. Meanwhile, setting the woods on fire is just going to end the battle for everyone, and setting some Germanic tribesman’s furs on fire, _after killing him with an arrow,_ is of limited value unless it’s getting dark or something. > > Fire arrows were usually used for a specific purpose, and probably by archers maintaining careful separation – they’re for destroying siege engines, towns, or fortifications; they’re not anti-personnel weapons. > > But they look cool. More to the point, they look like modern tracer rounds. I think the inspiration for that scene in the movie was probably night footage of Baghdad. Plus, tying a bunch of rags to the end of your arrows does not improve their aerodynamic capabilities. The opposite, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/31 "2009-10-27T21:52:05Z")
Well, hearking back to the days of my high school Latin classes, while Hades \*as a whole \*was pretty much like Purgatory or Limbo, it \*\*did \*\*have sub-sections. There was Elysium, which was the heaven-ish part, and [there was Tartarus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus#Tartarus_in_Roman_mythology), which was the hell-ish part. So, our fictitious Romans almost certainly had a concept of a place of suffering after death. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213/32 "2009-10-27T22:23:25Z")
There are also the lemures, who are the spirits of the restless or unburied dead who torment the living. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-my-command-unleash-hell/515213.md?page=1)