Roman Religious Figurines

[Furt]

Can anyone explain the small figurines used by Romans during their prayers and what they are called? Are they a form of iconism representing the Gods and/or family? In "Gladiator", Maximus sets some on a small candle-lit shrine.

Edited March 18, 2007 by Furt

[Lost_Warrior]

I believe some of them were actually representations of sick people (or sick body parts) which needed to be healed. They were given as offerings to the appropriate god or goddess in hopes that the person would be healed.

 

Romans often had figurines representing the gods on their shrines, and also figures representing the lares, or household spirits, and the genius and juno of the man and woman of the house (their spirits). They made offerings to them.

Edited March 18, 2007 by Lost_Warrior

[Ursus]

As LW said, Romans had domestic shrines (lararia). Small figurines were used to depict familial/household spirits as well as patron gods. Prayers and offerings were made to them daily.

 

I couldn't tell you what Maximus was doing in "Gladiator." Perhaps it was supposed to be a lararium ritual, but the ritual itself seemed to be more Hollywood than history.

[Nephele]

I agree with Ursus, in that the Gladiator scene of Maximus venerating tiny figurines of his family members (both while they were still alive and after their death) seemed "more Hollywood than history".

 

I noticed in HBO's Rome that in the scene where Vorenus and Pullo were shipwrecked, Vorenus was shown to be carrying a small portrait of his wife -- much as one today carries a family photo in one's wallet. I wondered, too, about the authenticity of that.

 

We know that the Romans used imagines (waxen death masks) for ancestral remembrance, and we see an example of these in a few scenes in HBO's Rome, where lighted death masks of past Junii adorn the walls of Servilia's personal chambers.

 

During funeral processions, illustrious families with numerous ancestral death masks in their possession would hire actors to don these death masks and join the procession, so that spectators might take note of past consuls, aediles, or other noteworthy ancestors of the deceased.

 

Still-living family members were represented by lifesize portrait busts within the home. Sometimes, the portrait bust of a female member of the family might be sculpted with a detachable headdress, as hairstyles were likely to change in Rome and this would be a money-saving means of keeping representations of living family members up-to-date.

 

-- Nephele

[Jasminia]

Both the Lares and Penates were hearth spirits/gods in charge of the care and safety of the hearth and home.

 

I remember reading that the tradition of carrying around Penates was probably derived from the Aeneid, where Aeneas was bringing the Trojan gods into Latium (dum conderet urbem inferretque deos Latio). True, an invented history, but one the Roman adhered to nonetheless.

 

Carrying your gods while traveling on precarious journeys was like carrying around little pieces of home and lent itself to feelings of security.

[Furt]

Thanks for the replies! Nobody knows if these figurines had a specific name?

[M. Porcius Cato]

It's interesting that several of you mentioned Lares as a possibility. My first thought was Penates. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the Lares were the household spirits associated with the floor, whereas the Penates were the spirits associated with the interior of the house. To the Romans, I hope this difference made some sense: it seems like an arbitrary distinction to me.

 

Also, it's entirely possible that the little figurines were images of gods. I've seen tiny figurines of Venus, Jupiter, etc from Pompeii. They looked just like the lares/penates/whatever from Gladiator.

[Ursus]

It's interesting that several of you mentioned Lares as a possibility. My first thought was Penates. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the Lares were the household spirits associated with the floor, whereas the Penates were the spirits associated with the interior of the house. To the Romans, I hope this difference made some sense: it seems like an arbitrary distinction to me.

 

Also, it's entirely possible that the little figurines were images of gods. I've seen tiny figurines of Venus, Jupiter, etc from Pompeii. They looked just like the lares/penates/whatever from Gladiator.

 

It has been suggested the worship of the Lares originated from the deification of deceased ancestors. In archaic Rome the dead might have been buried beneath the floor of the Roman household. Others think they were somehow local spirits of the farmland that were later housed inside.

 

Whatever the ultimate origins, by the beginning of the imperial period, it seems the Lares were the guardian spirits of the place - the guardian spirit of the place especially associated with the family was the Lar Familiaris. The Lares were depicted by figurines of Greek youths dancing around with wine horns (suggesting peace and plenty).

 

The little figurines of the major gods denoting the patron deities of the household were Di Penates, and the families at Pompei seem to have had anywhere from 2-8 at a time.

[Andrew Dalby]

There's evidence on this in Cato's On Farming (not OUR Cato, the 2nd century BC Cato!) First, he is talking about when the owner visits a farm that is managed by his slaves.

 

Each time as master you visit the farm, you must first greet the Lar of the Household. Then go round the property – that day, if you can; if not that day, the next. As soon as you are clear how the business stands, what tasks are done and still to do, next day you should send for the manager [vilicus] ... etc.

 

So, there's your Lar, the god of the household. And the Lar wasn't only to be worshipped by free people because at another point, talking about the duties of the manageress [vilica], Cato says:

 

She must have the hearth ready swept all round each day before she goes to bed. On the Calends, the Ides, the Nones, and on a feast day, she must place a wreath at the hearth, and on those days she must make offering to the Lar of the Household according to her means.

 

She won't have much to offer, of course, but the Lar doesn't object to that: according to her means is the rule So, anyway, that is definitely the name of one of those figurines: Lar Familiaris, "Lar of the Household".

Edited March 19, 2007 by Andrew Dalby