Lares
Mythological Narrative
Benevolent household spirits who protected the home and family. Each Roman household maintained a lararium shrine where offerings were made to these guardian deities. They were honored at crossroads and watched over travelers.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Gods of the Cupboard and the Crossroads
Lares are Roman household and neighborhood gods, not monsters. The lararium received daily offerings; Lares Compitales watched the compita. Plautus, Cato, and countless inscriptions treat them as protective kin-spirits. Augustan religion publicized the Lares Augusti.
Danger 1 is correct: they harm the neglected household, not the passerby as a beast would.
## The Lar Familiaris
Plautus's comedy *Aulularia* is spoken by the household Lar himself, who has guarded a buried pot of gold for generations. Surviving lararia at Pompeii and Herculaneum show the Lares as dancing young men holding a drinking horn and a bowl, flanking the genius of the head of the household, with serpents below. Augustus reorganised the neighbourhood cult in 7 BCE, pairing the Lares with his own genius.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Lares.
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