As for Ploutos [Plutus], the personification of wealth, he was the son of Iasion (a son of Zeus by the Pleïad Elektra) and of the goddess Demeter. Zeus zapped Iasion dead using a thunderbolt, some versions of the story making it seem that this was done out of jealousy for the son having an affair with his father’s ex-wife (and sister), others saying that Iasion was assaulting Demeter, making the affair non-consensual. At any rate Ploutos was blinded by his grandfather/uncle Zeus so that he would be impartial in his bestowal of wealth upon humankind, that not only the righteous would be rich but that anyone, regardless of merit, could garner cash and other wealth-forms. The history with Ploutos’ father has always made me think there’s likely something more personal about Zeus’ blinding of this relative of his. Ploutos was supposedly also lame (on account of Zeus as well?), so that he took his time arriving, and winged, so that he departed faster than he came. According to Pindar, Khrysos [Chrysus], literally "Gold," the personification and god of gold, was a son of Zeus. It surprises me that no ancient writer seems to have made a direct connection between the gods Khrysos and Ploutos, as characters. (But perhaps Khrysos was just a minor abstraction, maybe even made up by Pindar...)
Aesop’s fable about Ploutos and the deified hero Herakles, is subtitled thus: Riches are justly hated by courageous men, because a coffer of cash brings an end to honest traffic in praise.The story then goes that after Herakles had died and was being welcomed into the home of the gods to join their ranks, he saluted the deities who came to congratulate him one by one but when Ploutos approached him, Herakles glanced aside, ignoring him. When Zeus asked why he did this, Herakles answered, “I hate the god of riches because he is a friend to the wicked while corrupting the entire world by throwing his money around.”
An excerpt from Aristophanes’ theatrical comedy Ploutos, in which two poor Athenians, Khremylos [Chremylus] and Blepsidemos [Blepsidemus], are engaged in a heated debate against Penia, the personification of poverty:
Khremylos: Will you say that Zeus cannot discern what is best? He takes Ploutos [Wealth] to himself.
Blepsidemos: ... and banishes Penia [Poverty] to the Earth!
Penia: Oh, me! How dim-sighted you are, you old fellows of the days of Kronos! Zeus is poor, and I will clearly prove it to you. In the Olympic Games, which he founded, and to which he convokes the whole of Greece every four years, why does he only crown the victorious athletes with wild olive? If he were rich he would give them gold!
Khremylos: That's the way he shows that he clings to his wealth; he is sparing with it, won't part with any portion of it, only bestows baubles on the victors and keeps his money for himself.
Penia: But wealth coupled to such sordid greed is yet more shameful than poverty.
Khremylos: May Zeus destroy you, both you and your wreath of wild olive!
Penia: Thus you dare to maintain that Poverty is not the source of all blessings!
Khremylos: Ask Hekate whether it is better to be rich or starving; she will tell you that the rich send her a meal every month and that the poor make the same food disappear before it is even served. But go and hang yourself and don't breathe another syllable.