Dear Friends of Ancient mythology! Most of my contributions deal with Greek mythology. Now here I have a typical Roman theme: the Lares! Everytime if you talk about the Lares this coin must be shown at any case: The Coin: Lucius Caesius, gens Caesia AR - Denarius, 3.87g, 21mm Rome, 112/111 BC Obv.: Heroic bust of the youthful Apollo Vesovius l., diademed and with drapery on l. shoulder, seen from behind, hurling thunderbolt Rev.: The Lares Praestites seated 3/4 r., nude to hips, then covered with dog's skin, wearing hats and boots, between them a dog, stg. r.; both holding staff in l. hand, the right one has r. hand on the dog's head. in upper field head of Vulcanus l. and his Tongs in left field LA ligate, in right field RE ligate (LA-RE!) in ex. L.CAESI Ref.: Crawford 298/1; Sydenham 564; RSC Caesia 1 nice VF, broad flan The Lares together with the Penates and Manes belong to the Roman guardian spirits. As goddess eventually Ceres is counting to this group too.The name Lares is said to originate from the Etruscean 'larth', meaning ruler or king. But that is not sure. Referring to the myth their parents were the nymph Acca Larentina and the god Mercurius. There are various Lares depending on the place they were protecting: Lares compitales were protecting crossroads, Lares permarini are the guardians of ships and sailors, Lares praestites were protecting a city and Lares Hostili, Volusani and so on were protecting the named owner of a place. The Lares familiares (before the Augustean reform only in Singularis!) originally were all deities which were worshipped at the hearth, so beside the Lares the Penates too and Ceres. The hearth was regarded by the Romans as centre of the family and it was the place of veneration. Their cult included the slaves and the unfree people too; the vilicus* was allowed to sacrifice independently at the compitum* or the hearth. At the Kalendes, Ides, Nones or other festivals the vilica* garlanded the hearth and prayed to the Lares. The Lar familiaris was saluted everytime if one get home or leave it, he was given presents daily. The major festival were the Compitalia on December 22 after the end of the field work and the Laralia on May 1st. They were introduced by Servius Tullius, renewed by Tarquinius Superbus and Iunius Brutus. At the crossroads stood chapels which as much openings as estates came together. The Lares Praestites had a temple on the Campus Martius and a sanctuary at top of the Via Sacra. The statues therein look like the depiction on the coin (Ovid fast. V, 129ff.). Another was said to be on the Palatine. At the end of the Republic the celebration of the Compitalia became discredited. When Augustus was rearranging the city each vicus* got a compitum Larum as sacral centre. But now they changed into the centre of the Imperial Cult: Between two Lares now always stood the Genius of the Emperor. The Lar familiaris was substituted by two Lares familiares with the Genius of the Pater familias between them. Background: A yet unsolved problem is the origin of the Lares. There are two suggestions: 1) The originate from the Roman Ancestry Cult or 2) they were Guardian Spirits of localities (Wissowa). In ancient times it was assumed that the Lares were identical with the Manes. That demonstrates that even in ancient times there were no reliable knowledge. The suggestion that the Lar familiaris like the Greek 'heros archegetes' is the deified ancestor of the family and therefore has his place at the hearth has the problem that the way of the Lares from the hearth to the compitum is difficult to explain whereas the other direction from the compitum to the hearth is thinkable if they were interpreted as guardians who confined the whole fundus*. The idea that the Lares are connected to the Underworld - so Mania should have been the mater larum, who has been a grimace figure and cognate with the Manes (the accompanying dogs are related to the Underworld too, see Hekate!) - can not be followed because the Lares never had any weird, they were worshipped at daylight and stayed at the fundus even if the family moved to the city. So today Wissowa's point of view is valid. The dogs then should be seen as concept of vigilance friendly to friends but hostile against strangers. The Penates The Penates (Lat. dii penates) were worshipped in the house too especially at the hearth. Their name is not derived directly from 'penus' = inventory for the usage of the pater familias, but can't be separated in respect of content. So they were responsible for supply, food and drinks. The Penates were old Roman deities, they belong to the cives Romani and to the pater familias. When Aeneas was escaping from Troy he took the Penates (not the Lares!) from Troy to Lavinium from where they couldn't be moved to Alba Longa or Rome. Already Timaios knows Penates in Lavinium (as herold's staffs made from iron and ore as well Trojan pottery). The Roman magistrates with imperium were sacrifying from ancient times on in Lavinium at the assumption of their office. Later the Penates got their own sanctuary consecrated on December 14 in the regio of Velia (look at Monumentum Ancyranum) with the pictures of two youthful men, wearing military clothes and holding spears as they were found in regia (participation of the Saliers) or in front of the harbour of Samothrace. Beside Jupiter they were oath gods by which f.e. contracts were sworn. The Manes The Manes were the spirits of the deceased ancestors. Their name is still unexplained. It is popular today to derive it from 'manare', to vanish, or from 'manus', good. But this surely is wrong. Originally it was used adjectivical f.e. like 'ab dis manibus'. Referring to conceptions of the late ancient times the deceased at first became 'lemures', then as good spirits 'lares' or as bad spirits 'larvae'. The uncertain spirits became Manes. But often they are equated with Lemures or Larvae. The term Manes as 'the small, the thin' matches well the Larvae which etymological are related to Greek chloros and mean 'the pale'. So they name the indeterminated spirits different from the di parentes. From Numa Pompilius on the pontifex took care for their worship at the festivals of Lemuriae and Feralia where they got feralia*; being diregarded they sent bad dreams. They were invoked at the sacrifacing death of Curtius, together with Tellus at the devotion* of the Decii and Carthage. The funeral place was dedicated to Dis Manibus later abbreviated as DM. Later on the term Manes was used for the death spirit of a single dead person, for the corpse and finally for the afterlife and its punishment as it is seen in Carminum Liber I, IV of Horaz: Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turris. O beate Sesti, vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam. Iam te premet nox fabulaeque Manes. (The pale death with equal pace is knocking at the huts of the poor and the castles of the rich. O blessful Sestius, the short sum of live forbids us to entertain long hope. Yet night will press you and the Manes of the tale.) Some explanations: *compitum: crossroad *devotion: sacrificing themself to obligate the gods *feralia: festival for the dead on February 21; donations for the dead too *fundus: estate *vicus: quarter *vilica: caretaker, fem. *vilicus: caretaker, male (often slaves or freed slaves) Pics: (1) Depicted is the Lararium of the Casa dei Vettii in Pompeji. We see the genius of the family in the shape of a youth in the midth who - between two Lares - is offering a libation. Beneath, the same genius in the shape of a snake. The depicted Lares are Lares familiares. They regularly are very youthful - sometimes still with a bulla - and are depicted often dancing. (2) The second pic shows Penates as I have known it before I came to school! Penaten cream is a well-known German skin cream since 1904. Please mention the dog! Sources: (1) Der kleine Pauly (2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliche griechische Mythologie (3) Karl Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen (4) NumisWiki http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp Best regards
Again, @Jochen1 , wonderful writeup! And that Denarius is great! I enjoy mine for the dog, also. Mine: Roman Republic Lucius Caesius 112-111 BCE AR Denarius Apollo dog, Lares Praestites, bust Vulcan, tongs above LA RE Sear 175 Craw 298-1
Thank you for the educational post on this interesting type, Jochen. ROMAN REPUBLIC AR Denarius. 3.81g, 20mm. Rome mint, 112-111 BC. Lucius Caesius, moneyer. Crawford 298/1; Sydenham 564; Caesia 1. O: Youthful, draped bust of Vejovis left, seen from behind, hurling thunderbolt, ROMA monogram to right. R: Two Lares seated right, each holding a staff; dog standing between them, head of Vulcan and tongs above, LA on left, monogram on right, L•CAESI in exergue. Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.24953
Very nice coin and interesting post. I wrote a paper on the Lares and Penates many years ago at university. Thanks for the refresher.
Thanks for the fascinating write-up, as usual! I have nothing with the Lares, but here's a coin with the Penates: Roman Republic, C. Sulpicius C.f. Galba, AR Serrate Denarius, 106 BCE. Obv. Jugate heads of Dei Penates left, D•P•P [Dei Penates Publici] beneath heads / Rev. Two soldiers facing each other, holding spears and pointing at sow lying down between them; S above; in exergue: C•SVL•ICI•C•F. [Indication of undertype on right of reverse, causing loss of detail.] RSC I Sulpicia 1, Crawford 312/1, Sydenham 572, BMCRR Rome 1324, Sear RCV I 189 (ill.) 18.12 mm., 3.83 g. [See Sear RCV I at p. 108: “Crawford’s interpretation of this interesting type seems the most convincing: it refers to Aeneas’ [landing at and founding of] Lavinium (home of the Sulpicia gens) with the Penates, and the subsequent miracle of the great white sow [giving birth to 30 piglets], which foretold the founding of Alba Longa,” where the soil was more fertile, 30 years later.] (Ex. Madroosi Collection [Joe Blazick]).
Ah, the "Household Gods". Splendid writeup and beautiful coin. These divinities remind me of just how religious the average Roman was, as every morning the Pater Familias would gather the family around the altar, pull up his hood and lead the family (slaves and visitors, too)in a little service honoring these gods. I wonder how many folks would start off their day in a similar manner today with a religious devotion? I think we do the Romans a disservice in not recognizing how significant matters of belief were to them, but their devotion to the Household Gods remind us they were.
Ever since I learned of these "personal" / "family" Gods early in my life, I always wondered how far back in Human History these types of Gods were worshipped or revered. They were very personal in my view. Seem not to be as "abstract" as some of the "Greater" Gods. Curious.
Actually while deities like Jupiter and Juno could be very abstract, I'll bet the Romans saw the Lares et Penates as very immanent within their household, as real as the smoke emanating from the burning incense. Incorporeal, but not at all inconsequential.
Very much agreed. To me, they were a deeply personal intimate tie. The family is a core of humanity. This would be recognizable, perhaps going many thousands of years before for many humans. Just musings.
Providentia, like Concordia, Fides and others, belongs to the Numina, which were perceived as divine because of their importance for the preservation of the genus humanus, personified and cultically worshipped. From Augustus onwards, they were part of the imperial cult, initially with a dynastic claim. Similarly, Virtus, Clementia, Iustitia and Pietas. I consider them to be a different class than Lares and Penates.
