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Information about Lares

This page is about the Roman household deities. For the Puerto Rican town, see Lares, Puerto Rico.
Topics in Roman mythology
Important Gods:
JupiterMinerva
MarsMercury
QuirinusVulcan
VestaCeres
JunoVenus
FortunaLares
Topics
Legendary History
Roman religion
The Flamens
Greek/Roman myth compared
Other minor Roman deities:
PenatesLarvae
GeniusManes
LemuresTerminus
Lares (pl.) (also called Genii loci or, more archaically, Lases) were ancient Roman deities protecting the house and the family - household gods. See also Genius, Larvae, Di Penates, Manes.

Lares are presumed sons of Mercury and Lara, and deeply venerated by ancient Romans through small statues, usually put in higher places of the house, far from the floor, or even on the roof (but some statues were also on some crossings of roads). Of the Lares proper, there are only two, and they had inferior power. Over time, their power was extended over houses, country, sea, cities, etc., as the Lares became conflated with other Roman deities and protective spirits.
Enlarge picture
Household lararium in Pompeii
The Genius loci was presumed taking part in all that happened inside the house, and a statue was also put on the table during the meals.

In the early Roman times, in every house there was at least one little statue. Later, a sort of confusion connected their figure with those of Manes, deities of Hades (and the most virtuous dead persons of the family). Finally the confusion included the Penates(other minor deities) as well. In Late Antiquity they represented the "illustrious dead" of the city and empire of Rome, and the Emperor Alexander Severus venerated the Lares of such figures as Abraham, Orpheus, and Jesus Christ. [1]

Historian Cyril Bailey, in his book Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome, presents some interesting information regarding the Lare. The festival of the Lare was known as the Compitalia, which refers to the crossroads. The crossroads were the traditional setting for the veneration of the Lare. Crossroads have also been associated with Witchcraft since ancient times.

Scholar Georges Dumezil, in his book Archaic Roman Religion, mentions that the worship of the Lare included setting little towers with an altar placed before them. Archaeologists Lesley and Roy Adkins note (in their book Dictionary of Roman Religion) that the Lare shrine at the crossroads was “open in all four directions to allow passage for the Lar”.

The ancient writer Ovid, in his work titled Fausti, refers to the Lare as the “night watchmen”. Here we can see the theme of four towers associated with the four directions, as well as four guardians of boundaries or demarcation. This general theme appears in modern Wicca as the Watchers and Watchtowers of the ritual circle. An older system seemingly related to the Lare appears in Italian witchcraft where we find beings known as the Grigori. In Kabbalah based systems of magic the theme of four guardians takes the form of the four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Ariel or Uriel. They are seen as guarding the four directions.

Types of Lares:
  1. Lares Compitales - crossroads
  2. Lares Domestici - the house
  3. Lares Familiares - family
  4. Lares Patrii
  5. Lares Permarini - the sea
  6. Lares Praestitis - the state
  7. Lares Privati
  8. Lares Rurales - land
  9. Lares Viales - travellers

See also

Turan, the Etruscan love goddess

References

1. ^ Aldington, Richard; Ames, Delano (1968). New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Yugoslavia: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 209.


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Lares, Puerto Rico



Flag

Nickname: "Cuidad del Grito", "Los Patriotas"
Gentilic: "Lareños"
Location

Location of Lares, Puerto Rico within Puerto Rico

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Roman mythology, the mythological beliefs of the people of Ancient Rome, can be considered as having two parts. One part, largely later and literary, consists of whole-cloth borrowings from Greek mythology.
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Jupiter (Iuppiter in Latin) held the same role as Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Juppiter Optimus Maximus Soter (Jupiter Best, Greatest, Savior); as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order.
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Minerva was a Roman goddess of crafts, poetry and wisdom, and is known as the inventor of music.

This article focuses on Minerva in early Rome and in cultic practice.
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For the fourth planet from the sun, see Mars.


Mars was the Roman god of war, the son of Juno and either Jupiter or a magical flower. As the word Mars
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Mercury (IPA: /ˈmɜːkjəri/, Latin: Mercurius listen   (help info )
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Quirinus was an early god of the Roman state. In Augustan Rome, Quirinus was also an epithet of Janus, as Janus Quirinus.[1]

History

Quirinus was originally most likely a Sabine god.
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Vulcan is the god of beneficial and hindering fire,[1] including the fire of volcanoes. He is also called Mulciber ("softener") in Roman mythology and Sethlans in Etruscan mythology.
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Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Though she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology; she had a large, albeit mysterious role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece.
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Ceres was the goddess of growing plants (particularly cereals) and of motherly love. Her name derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "ker", meaning "to grow", which is also the root for the words "create" and "increase".
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Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love and beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She was the consort of Vulcan. She was considered the ancestor of the Roman people by way of its legendary founder, Aeneas, and played a key
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Fortuna (equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) goddess of fortune, was the personification of luck, hopefully of good luck, but she could be represented veiled and blind, as modern depictions of Justice are seen, and came to represent the capriciousness of life.
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For other senses of this name, see Roman Kingdom (disambiguation).

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Ancient Roman religion combined several different cult practices and embraced more than a single set of beliefs. The Romans originally followed a rural animistic tradition, in which many spirits were each responsible for specific, limited aspects of the cosmos and human activities,
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flamen was a name given to a priest assigned to a state-supported god or goddess in Roman religion. There were fifteen flamines in the Roman Republic. The most important three were the flamines maiores
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Roman mythology was strongly influenced by Greek mythology and Etruscan mythology. The following is a list of most credited cult equivalences between the respective systems. Note however that many mythographers dismiss both the equivalences made in ancient times and those proposed by
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In Roman mythology, the Di Penates or briefly Penates were originally patron gods (really geniuses) of the storeroom, later becoming household gods guarding the entire household. They were related to the Lares, Genii and Larvae. Penates are referred to in Propertius (iv.i).
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larvae or lemures (singular lemur) were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures
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In Roman mythology, every man had a genius and every woman a juno (Juno was also the name of the queen of the gods).

Originally, the genii and junones were ancestors who guarded over their descendants.
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Dis Manibus.]] In Roman mythology, the Manes were the souls of deceased loved ones. As minor spirits, they were similar to the Lares, Genii and Di Penates. They were honored during the Parentalia and Feralia in February.
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larvae or lemures (singular lemur) were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures
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In Roman religion, Terminus was the god who protected boundary markers; his name was the Latin word for such a marker. Sacrifices were performed to sanctify each boundary stone, and landowners celebrated a festival called the Terminalia
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In Roman mythology a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted as a snake. In contemporary usage, "genius loci" usually refers to a location's distinctive atmosphere, or a "spirit of place", rather than necessarily a guardian spirit.
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The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. This article however is about the latter.
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deity or god is a postulated preternatural or supernatural being, who is always of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings.
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A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members.

The Lares and Penates of Ancient Rome are perhaps the best-known example of household gods, but many others existed.
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In Roman mythology, every man had a genius and every woman a juno (Juno was also the name of the queen of the gods).

Originally, the genii and junones were ancestors who guarded over their descendants.
..... Click the link for more information.
larvae or lemures (singular lemur) were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures
..... Click the link for more information.
In Roman mythology, the Di Penates or briefly Penates were originally patron gods (really geniuses) of the storeroom, later becoming household gods guarding the entire household. They were related to the Lares, Genii and Larvae. Penates are referred to in Propertius (iv.i).
..... Click the link for more information.
Dis Manibus.]] In Roman mythology, the Manes were the souls of deceased loved ones. As minor spirits, they were similar to the Lares, Genii and Di Penates. They were honored during the Parentalia and Feralia in February.
..... Click the link for more information.


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