Household Gods in Ancient Rome
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- čas přidán 27. 05. 2024
- I’ve talked about domestic worship before on this channel, but today I wanted to cover some of the other household gods that the Romans venerated in their own homes. The Lares, Penates, and Genii of the household constituted the familial guardians and protectors, and their worship was an integral part of personal religion.
Vesta and the Vestals:
• Vesta and the Vestals
• The Vestal Virgins, Pa...
Website: www.hearthofhaemonia.com
IG: @hearthofhaemonia
Contact: info@hearthofhaemonia.com
Images:
- Lararium, House of the Vetii, Pompeii: Patricio Lorente/Waterborough (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Atrium of the House of the Vetii, Luigi Bazzani (1895): public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Vesta fresco, Pompeii: Mario Enzo Migliori (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Lararium fresco from an insula at Pompeii: ArchaiOptix (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Guardian Angel: stock image (Pixabay)
- The Dioskouroi, 2nd c. BCE relief: Marie-Lan Nguyen (via Wikimedia Commons)
- The Capitoline Wolf, with Romulus and Remus: public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Augustus as Pontifex Maximus: public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Dancing Lare holding a rhyton and a patera. Bronze statuette, first century AD, Capitoline Museums: Marie-Lan Nguyen (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Augustus’ redistricting of Rome into 14 neighborhoods (map): public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Statuette of Mercury, 1st c. Roman bronze, Walters Art Museum: art.thewalters.org/detail/254...
- Gallo-Roman childbirth goddess nursing an infant: Siren-Com (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Roman relief depicting a boy wearing a bulla: Agnete (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Roman wedding relief sculpture: Ad Meskens (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Lar holding a cornucopia, from Roman Spain, 1st c. CE: Luis García (Zaqarbal) (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Aeneas and the Penates: public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Penates coin, 106 BCE: Johny Sysel (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Temple of Vesta, Roman Forum: Wknight94 (via Wikimedia Commons)
00:00 Introduction
03:54 Genius and Domestic Space
07:24 The Lares
10:22 Compitalia Festival
11:27 Imperial Takeover of the Lares
13:02 The Lararium
14:12 Offerings and Familial Milestones
17:44 Agriculture and Food Abundance
19:14 The Penates
21:02 Conclusion
Hey friends, the House of the Vettii recently reopened for visitors! Check out this video from AP to see some high-res video of the lararium: czcams.com/video/y4_hhgoXu2M/video.html
now i want a Lar for my apartment! -these glimpses into the everyday life of Romans are fascinating.
I recently metal detected near an old Roman town (Alcester) in the UK and found a Roman Silver Dinarius from the time of Augustus with the bust of the Goddess Feronia. That's why I'm here watching this really good video. Thanks for these videos. They're very relaxing and informative.
Wow, that must have been quite the discovery! I've dealt with Roman coins a little bit in archaeology. Always a wild, wild feeling holding something that old!
Interestingly, we Old Rite Catholics still pray with the words "familia" for the "household" of God (not "family" as relations) and "famulo/a" for an individual as a servant/handmaid of God (e.g. "famulorum famularumque"). The general notion seems to have remained even as Rome adopted Christianity.
Wow, that's super interesting! So much of Catholic ritual can be traced back to Roman practice :) Thanks for sharing!
@@hearthofhaemonia Very much! Never ditched a lot of words and customs.
In "The Laws", Plato advocates suppression of domestic worship forms. This is because his ideal state uses religion as one means of ensuring conformity with rule by the wise. Of course, you only ban something if you think it is an existing problem, but (apart from Hestia) I was not even aware that the Greeks had domestic gods.
Instead, histories of Greek religion focus on the Olympiam religion (ideal for the polis system) and the transition to mystery religions (which suit the atomised psychology of the post-polis era).
I guess that their lack of interest in the domestic sphere reflects a bias toward the "serious" arena of public activity rather than the feminine and subaltern domestic sphere.
Thanks again Kate for introducing me to many aspects of the ancient world that are new to me. You are a great teacher.
I bet archaeology could tell us more about domestic worship and the Olympians in later periods. Seems to me that written evidence follows the trends of whatever was popular among the literate class. But there's so much out there!!
Thanks for reminding me that I really need to sift through the Laws. There's a lot of good stuff in there.
What did the ancient Romans call the lararium? WE call it the lararium, they did not. And that appeared to be a statue of the Bona Dea, not Vesta.
That's was a good lecture. It reminded me a lot of Fustel de Colanges book The ancient city, which was my favorite book when I was like 17. It aways makes me wonder how the little we know about the household religion may give us some insight into some deep ancient social practices and worldviews from way before the establishment of a writing culture.
It's true, we know very little, but what we do know is so valuable! And the archaeological record gives us insight into (as you say) preliterate society and illiterate members of literate societies.
That is a fantastic book.
what an amazing video! It actually tied.together some concepts and teachings within Stregheria for me !
Ah, I really want to learn about Stregheria! I'd be so curious to see how ancient traditions have continued and changed throughout history
So interesting!
Thank you!
Interesting video, thanks for sharing. I am just wondering if any body knows who was the Patron Deity of Lares for woodworkers in Ancient Rome.
Anyone who watched spartacus always hears "I am the pater famillias!" in Batiatis voice when they hear the term.
Ah, true!
Hello, I am not sure if you are still reading comments on this video but I was wondering where/how to search for a listing of lares and their domains/functions?
Hi there! Great question. To my knowledge, the Lares weren't necessarily given individual names or correspondences. In general, a Lar spirit is one of the protection spirits of your own household (either from a "people" standpoint - ancestral spirits, spirits that watch over your family regardless of location; or from a "place" standpoint - the spirits of the house/land where your house is). Additionally, neighborhoods had communal Lares who guarded the houses/families in that area. The only differentiation that I'm aware of is:
- Lares: general household/ancestral spirits, guarded the home and those who lived there
- Penates: similar to the Lares, but specifically had the function of guarding the pantry (i.e. presiding over the resources and abundance of the family)
- Genii: (singular Genius) guardian spirit of a place, often referenced in terms of the household; usually represented in art as a snake
- Ancestors: one's known ancestors would have been venerated and thought to have some influence over the lives of their descendants. There would have been images of them (according to a family's means) in the household and offerings would have been made at appropriate times of year.
TL;DR: Lares didn't have individual names or functions, but was an umbrella term to refer collectively to the household spirits.
I hope this helps!
Salve! Ty so much for your content 🤗 appreciate the time you put into it. Did Romans or Greeks worship Lachesis or any of the 3 Fates? Ty
I have one more question if possible pls: Jews that lived in Rome, is there any historical record of the worshipping both? The Jewish g-d and the Greco Roman gods?
Thanks for the questions! To the first: yes, there is archaeological evidence for ancient Greek worship of the Fates. It wasn't the most common religious activity, but it definitely existed.
To your second question: not that I'm aware of. It was definitely a regular Roman practice to incorporate divinities from other religions into their own, and there's evidence of references to the Abrahamic god and to Jesus Christ on things like curse tablets (listed among other gods from Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc.). But as for Jews in Rome, I would guess that they wouldn't engage with Roman gods, since it goes against their monotheistic beliefs. But in later times, when Christianity was undergoing persecution, some Christians did agree to make compulsory sacrifices to the pagan gods in exchange for their lives.
It is quite a tragedy how Christianity destroyed these traditions. Our world ancient traditional knowledge would be much more tangible to us today if Christianity hadnt obliterated and silenced these wisdoms. Very tragic. The Hindus of India still have their ancient wisdom mostly intact because the Christians could not get a supreme foothold in India.
It seems like religious disagreement causes (and historically has caused) so much conflict in our world.
What a nonconfrontational response to such a glaring historical fact.