The Women and the Lares

A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar from the Capitoline in Rome

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4534835
AutoresHarriet I Flower (Princeton University, autor de correspondencia), Meghan J Diluzio (Baylor University)
Año2019
Volumen123
Número2
Páginas213-236
Fecha de publicación2019-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3764/aja.123.2.0213
OpenAlexW2921436351
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas25

This paper offers a reexamination of a small Augustan lares altar found on the Capitoline Hill and now in the Museo Nazionale Romano at the Terme di Diocleziano. The altar features two women, one on each of its sides, wearing very similar costumes and offering libations, and twin lares on the front. The discussion analyzes the altar's original context, scale, iconography, workmanship, and state of preservation. This altar fits into the well-known series of altars dedicated by freedmen vicomagistri in the local neighborhoods (vici) in honor of the newly named Lares Augusti in and immediately after 7 B.C.E. Based on this setting and their elaborate costumes, which resemble those of the vestal virgins, these women can be identified as Roman brides, who regularly made offerings to the local lares near their new home on their wedding day. The Terme altar provides valuable evidence for the religious roles of Roman women, specifically in relation to lares at crossroads shrines (compita); it is the only representation of brides in a relief from the city of Rome and a rare example, among extant images, of women pouring a libation

Altar · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Context (archaeology · Extant taxon · Iconography · Visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History