In many ways the heart of the Roman way to the Gods can be said to lay with the household shrine and the deities worshipped thereon. The Lares familiares/Lares domestici (Lares of the household/familia – which includes family members, slaves, servants and perhaps animals) are prominent among these but I have struggled to understand their nature – are they guardians of place (where the household resides) or, as some have suggested, ancestor guardians of the family?
Plautus and Terence/Chapter 4. The prologue to this comedy is spoken in the character of the 'Lar Familiaris,' as the Romans called him—a sort of familiar spirit supposed to be attached to every Roman household. The grandfather had buried under the hearth a 'Pot of Gold,' intrusting the secret only to him, the Lar,.
Respected scholars M Beard et al describe them as follows: Bronze statuette of Lar holding a rhyton and a patera, 1st century CE (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK). “ Lares, protecting spirits of place, were worshipped in various contexts: in the house, at the crossroads, in the city (as guardians of the state). The Lares 'familiares' (gods of the house and its members) are the best known of these - receiving offerings, sacrifices and prayers within the household, and commonly appealed to as the protectors of its safety and prosperity. But no mythological stories attached to them; nor were they defined as individual personalities Beard, North and Price, Religions of Rome: Volume 2 at 2.2a. “Each Roman home has its own protective deities, the Lar (plural Lares), protecting the household or family; the Penates, protecting the stores-cupboard or pantry (penus) in the inner part of the house; the Genius or guardian spirit of individual members of the household, especially the paterfamilias; and Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The shrine to the Lar, generally known as the lararium, was sometimes in the atrium, the more public part of the house near the entrance, but more commonly in the kitchen area. Just as the home had its tutelary deities, so too did the entire property Warrior, Roman Religion at 28-29 ”.
Thus it would seem that these well-respected scholars understand the Lares familiares to be deities who protect that place called home. However there is another perspective, possibly deriving from Augustine of Hippo's description of the Lares as spirits of the dead (which begs the obvious question – how trustworthy can we regard descriptions relating to Paganism by a Christian, who seems never to have practised polytheism himself and who was so obviously hostile to the Gods?), see Augustine's. Contemporary scholar Robert Turcan describes the Lares thus.
“the Lares began as protective gods of certain places and gradually gained ancestral identity over time and through proximity to other spirits especially sacred snakes, Hecate and Mercury The Lares began as general and multifaceted deities, but they had a very specific function, to protect physical places. The nature or function of the Lares was to protect locations within a clearly demarcated boundary. The concept of boundaries is prevalent throughout the Roman worship of the Lares.
The Lares are venerated as boundary gods in their placement on boundary lines, such as the pomerium and the crossroads, and during ceremonies celebrating the passage over a boundary, such as the agrarian new year or a coming of age rite. They retain this function as boundary gods, even as the Lares become connected with the chthonic associations of other divinities. When the Lares are identified as ancestors, they still negotiate a boundary – the one between the living and the dead Smith, To Seek the Boundaries of the Roman Lares at 56-58.”. There are also a wealth of textual references to the Lares by ancient authors. I hope that by exploring some of these ancient sources that some kind of picture will emerge pointing me towards greater understanding of these important deities.
The most revealing literature as to the nature of the Lares familiares is perhaps from Tibullus who depicts them as guardians of the family home, who could bring fertility to family lands and could protect family members from harm. He affectionately and reverently describes his Lar as being represented by an old wooden statue (thus it appears that the Lares familiares were not always represented in pairs.) that was dressed and located in a “narrow” (thus modest) shrine.
“Lares of my fathers, save me: you are the same that reared me, a little child running before your feet. Don’t be ashamed that you’re made from ancient wood: so you were when you lived in my grandfather’s house.
Then faith was better kept, when a wooden God poorly dressed, stood in a narrow shrine. He was placated if someone offered the first grapes or placed the garland of wheatears on his sacred head: and whoever gained his wish brought the honey-cakes himself, his little daughter behind, with the pure comb. Turn the bronze spears away from me, Lares, and (accept) a sacrifice of a hog from the full sty. I will follow in pure clothing, carrying the basket bound with myrtle, myrtle binding my own head. So I may please you: let another be brave in war, and topple hostile generals with Mars’ help, then he can tell me his military deeds while I drink, and draw his camp on the table with wine Tibullus, Book 1, X Make Peace Not War.”. Once again we see there is a reference to a female performing the ritual at the household shrine. Horace mentions likewise in his Ode to “Pure Hands” - clearly it was not unusual for women to make offerings to the Lares: “Phidyle, my country girl, if you raise your upturned palms to heaven, at the new-born moon, if you placate the Lares with corn from this year’s harvest, with a greedy pig: your fruiting vines won’t suffer the destructive southerlies, nor your crops the killing mildew, nor will the young of the flock be born in that sickly season, heavy with fruit.
A similar ritual involving the offering of dolls may have been made by girls immediately prior to marriage (Hersch, The Roman Wedding at 67). Once wed, the bride offered a coin to the Lares upon entering the home of her new husband, as well as to her husband and to the Lares compitales – the Lares of the neighbouring crossroads (Hersch citing Nonius, The Roman Wedding at 278). Wreaths of flowers were also offered to the Lares at the time of marriage (Littleton, Gods, Goddesses and Mythology at 808). “who is the goddess Muta?: hear of what I’ve learned from the old men Jupiter orders the nymphs of Latium to prevent Muta’s sisiter Juturna from successfully fleeing from his embrace There was a naiad, named Lara: but her old name was the first syllable twice-repeated, given to her to mark her failing ie, her name is suggestive of one who babbles or continuously chatters.
Almo, the river-god often said: ‘daughter, hold your tongue,’ but she still did not. As soon as she reached the pools of her sister Juturna, she said: ‘flee these banks’, and spoke Jupiter’s words. She even went to Juno, and showing pity for married women said: ‘your husband loves the naiad Juturna.’ Jupiter was angered, and tearing that tongue from her mouth that she had used so immoderately, called Mercury to him: ‘lead her to the shadows: that place is fitting for the silent. She shall be a nymph, but of the infernal marshes.’ Jove’s order was obeyed. On the way they reached a grove: then it was they say that she pleased the god who led her. He prepared to force her, with a glance instead of words.
She pleaded, trying to speak from her mute lips. Heavy with child, she bore twins who guard the crossroads, the Lares, who keep watch forever over the city Ovid, Fasti, February 21, The Feralia.”. Is it because 'those that stand before' are termed praestites, and, also because it is fitting that those who stand before a house should be its guardians, terrifying to strangers, but gentle and mild to the inmates, even as a dog is? Or is the truth rather, as some Romans affirm, that, just as the philosophic school of Chrysippus think that evil spirits stalk about whom the gods use as executioners and avengers upon unholy and unjust men, even so the Lares are spirits of punishment like the Furies and supervisors of men's lives and houses?
Wherefore they are clothed in the skins of dogs and have a dog as their attendant, in the belief that they are skilful in tracking down and following up evil-doers Plutarch, The Roman and Greek Questions.”. “The Kalends of May saw an altar dedicated to the Larespraestites, with small statues of the gods. Curius king of the Sabines, said to be ancestors of the Romans vowed them: but time destroys many things, and the long ages wear away the stone. The reason for their epithet of praestites guardians, is that they keep safe watch over everything. They support us, and protect the city walls, and they’re propitious, and bring us aid.
A dog, carved from the same stone, used to stand at their feet: why did it stand there with the Lares? Both guard the house: both are loyal to their master: crossroads are dear to the god, and to dogs. Both the Lar and Diana’s pack chase away thieves: and the Lares are watchful, and so are dogs. I looked for statues of the twin gods, but they’d fallen with the weight of years: the city has a thousand Lares, and our leader’s Genius, who gave them to the people, and each district worships the three divinities two Lares compitales on either side of the spirit/Genius of Augustus Ovid, Fasti, May 1, Kalends.”. The primordial origin of the Lares is unclear – some may be considered to be descended from Gods and/or nymphs (regional nature spirits), or simply to be nymphs, and others perhaps are the spirits of those who traditionally lived on the Lares’ physical domain; out of this latter perspective the possibility emerges that the Lares are ancestor guardians. and that they are even, if the right rituals are performed, able to be moved into the location of new family homes (maybe.
Eg, as Aeneas brought the family Gods – whom Tibullus refers to as the Lares, though most other authors refer to these deities as the Penates – from Troy to Rome). Either way, the Lares are essentially deities of place who may protect the inhabitants of their regional domain if regular offerings are made to them.
Traditional offerings to the Lares include crowns for the Lares made of flowers, corn/grain (which in ancient Rome would have typically been wheat, barley and/or millet), rosemary and myrtle; food-plates and/or burnt offerings (food thrown into the ritual fire), which might include mola salsa (made of flour and salt), honey cakes, honeycomb, grapes, calves, lambs and pigs. Coins and precious personal items may also be ritually offered. Offerings to the Lares are traditionally made, by persons of either gender, at a minimum, once a month on the kalends (in the earliest times this was at the time of the new moon but on the 1st of each month under the later ), but for the more devout, offerings should also be made on the ides (originally the time of the full moon, but later the 13th or 15th of the calendar month), the nones (originally the first half moon, but later the 5th or 7th day of the calendar month) and at each religious festival. Offerings to the Lares may also be made daily – perhaps every morning and evening and before or during meal times.
The location of the shrine to the Lares (or the Lar – for the Lares familiares were not always represented in pairs) is traditionally near the entrance to the property, or in an open space in the property – such as in the atrium, or in the kitchen, or even in the bedroom. The household God in Plautus' Aulularia: The Pot of Gold is also referred to in the singular – he speaks: “I am the Household God of that family For many years now I have possessed this dwelling, and preserved it for the sire and grandsire of its present occupant.”. How this may work may be illuminated by ancient Germanic attitudes to the spirits of those who were laid to rest in burial mounds: 'The Vanir Germanic deities of earth and water - i.e., not celestial Gods are represented as having close connection with life in the burial mound. The idea that the dead men rested inside his grave mound as in a dwelling is one found repeatedly in the Icelandic sagas. Sometimes it is crudely expressed, as when a dead Christian hermit appears in a dream to rebuke a herd girl for wiping her muddy feet on his house, or a man is buried in a high place, so that he may 'look out over the whole district'. Sometimes we find the pleasant idea of friends buried in neighbouring mounds conversing with one another. we know of an early king of Norway, called Olaf Geirstadaalfr, 'elf of Geirstad'.
We are told in Flateyjarbok that in time of famine men sacrificed to him in his howe for plenty. there is an element of ancestor worship implied in this story. The title of 'elf' borne by Olaf may be significant. An ancestor of his, Halfdan Whiteleg, had the same title, and is called Brynalfr in the poem Ynglingatal, which recounts the places where a number of early kings were buried.
Regular ceremonies connected with the elves continued in Sweden into the late Viking age H R Ellis Davidson, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe at 154-156.' Anonymous Thank you very much for all this information! I did research about the Lares during the last two months for I realised that household worship is, in time without public temples, the best and most authentic way to act as a postmodern polytheist.
I had many questions about their number (1 Lar Familiaris for each house or two Lares Familiares, like mostly depicted in the shrines. I found some answers in a work by Margaret C.
Waites: and their transportability (as you point out above, I too came to the clue that they are genii loci, and for families living for generations on the same place it's normal they would regard the Lar Familiaris/Lares Familiares as ancestor(s)). BTW: This is the first time I hear the deities Aeneas brought from Troy to Italy called 'Lares'. Mostly I read that these deities were the Penates. In my case it's a sort of postmodern syncretism between the ideas about house spirits of the country I live in and the representation the Romans used to give their household worship. Again, thank you so much for this information! Grtz Serapion.
Anonymous Ow, now I feel a little guilty: there was no need to delete it, just mentioning that Aeneas' saved household deities were mostly identified with the Penates would be enough ^^. Yes, it is indeed a stong prove that Romans themselves confused Lares and Penates (and even Manes), just like us: who know what's the real difference between faeries or elves in folklore?
Or dwarfs and gnomes, mermaids and nereids? On the following (German) site it was stated that one of the reasons for doubling the Lar Familiaris, next to the fact that 'two' here actually stands for 'plural', could be the symmetry of the lararia: in the middle you have the Genius Patris Familias, flanked by two lares. The lararium-snake, a genius loci identical with the Zeus Ktesios/Zeus Meilichios/Agathos Daimon of the Greeks and the Unke of Germany (e.a.), is sometimes also doubled. Though I sometimes doubting of taking two (lonely is so silly:p), I think I stay by the idea of 1 Lar Familiaris out of the number of Lares who is concerned with my home and family (as long as we live here), since it's more similar with our Belgian and German ideas of hous spirits. I have to excuse both my bad English and my half objective half subjective comments.
Download file to see previous pages Considering that “The Pot of Gold” has a very simple plot, it might seem predictable and uninteresting. However, considering the age when this play was first written and the moral issues which have persisted across centuries, it can be viewed as an important document of human emotions (Nixon 2005). Though he is known for his practice of borrowing most of his plots from the earlier Greek writers of the New Comedy genre, Plautus changed the settings and minor plot elements so that they portrayed the Roman way of life effectively.
The Pot of Gold is one such work. In this play, he describes the changes in the life of a miser after he unexpectedly receives a pot of gold. The story revolves around Euclio and depicts his relationships with other characters such as Phaedria, the daughter of Euclio and Lyconides, the man who is in love with her in a comical way (Bates 1903). Every one of his works exhibits interesting strategies used to evoke laughter. For instance, let us consider the use of inclusion of Roman deities in his works. In The Pot of Gold, Plautus begins the play with a narration by Lars Familiaris, the household god of Euclio, the central character of the play. Moreover, the entire play takes place before two houses where the main characters live and the shrine of Fides.Download file to see next pages Read More.
Greed in Victorian Literature Literary critics have always given a worthy place to the works of Sir H Rider Haggard and Charles Dickens. It has often been said that readers can easily identify some of the characteristics of Victorian literature in their works. Haggard’s King Solomon's Mines and Dickens’s Great Expectations share the common features of Victorian literature like, adventure, social anarchy, deterioration of values, and failure of religious beliefs and greed for wealth and social status. Ideologies demonstrated in Dickens’s story are poignant and significant even in the midst of current economic crisis. Pip’s journey from expectations to disgrace and the reshaping of his values. This paper shall examine the effects that the greed of Euclio, in Plautus’s play, The Pot of Gold.
In the midst of his efforts to safeguard his material wealth, Euclio is unaware of the loss of Phaedria’s chastity. This results in the events of the play that include the theft of the pot of the gold, that follows the marriage arrangements between Phaedria and Megadorus.
The entire action happens as a result of the greed of Euclio; however, he remains unaware of the workings of it. This paper shall,look at this lack of agency that results, in the action of the play.of pursuing relentless profit growth. The individual becomes a product and creator of the capitalist system.
People like Bud become products of greed. Bud idolizes Gekko, because the latter makes tens of millions in his deals. He tells his father that there is no “nobility in poverty anymore.” When Bud first meets Gekko, Stone uses shot and reverse shot to contrast their personalities. On the one hand, Bud pitches a company but lacks drive and confidence. His acting shows his lack of confidence as his weakness, although wealth motivates him to go for the “big fish.” Gekko, on the other hand, speaks over the phone with ruthless and authoritarian energy. This scene defines the rest of the.
Greed, power and ambition in the Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth is a ic story penned by William Shakespeare that depicted how a man will fall into self-destruction with his excessive greed, lust for power and inordinate ambition. Although there were several factors that led to Macbeth’s self-destruction that includes his unfettered ambition and the machination of Lady Macbeth, it was the weakness of his character that made him fall prey to the prodding of the witches who led him into self-destruction with his murderous spree beginning with the assassination of the King (Duncan), to murdering his friend Banquo, to the massacre of Macduff’s wife and children in a gratuitous act of violence whose.The Feeling of greed Satisfaction is the way a person perceives his or her life has been and how the expected future situation.
This is a measure of the degree of personal comfort and people evaluate it in terms of feelings and acceptance in relations with the set goals in life. People weigh satisfaction in relation to the level of education, personal experiences, the wealth status, and the prestige of the residence among others. When a person lacks satisfaction in life, the attitude of greed dominates his or her mind and there no single time that he or she will get enough for himself or herself. Having excess optimism and over ambitions in life usually makes someone to try to achieve. BACKGROUND Greed Field Ventures Limited (GFVL) is an agricultural and agro-allied company.
It was registered as a limited liability company in 2001. It was initially a partnership between owners of two separate businesses. Allison owned a mixed-farming venture prior to the partnership while Garku owned a small scale starch processing plant. GFVL has in the past seven years expanded its agricultural and agro-allied production: from cereals and tubers to vegetables and fruits; and from starch processing to juice production. The company’s asset, turnover and profit have grown steady. The net asset of the company grew from $256,240.00 in 2001 to $1,061,870.00 in 2005 and $6,317,040.00.Running Head: Greed and Glory: Analysis Greed and Glory on Wall Street: Analysis address The following paper analyses the book titled Greed and Glory on Wall Street by Ken Auletta.
The paper begins by capturing the gist of the book and discusses Auletta's style of writing. Hardly dogmatic in approach for a work of non-fiction, it is an absorbing narrative of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. For business reporting, Auletta's narrative is exemplary, though it does slow down the pace of the book.
It recounts details gathered from interviews with key characters in the story. The paper then discusses the main theme of the book, which revolves around lust for greed and glory.Part Thesis: When the conservative values of the Cold War 1950s hit the technology of the 1980s, it was like a kid in the candy store where everything was possible, but only the lustful greed was probable.
'.a new facial scrub by Caswell-Massey and a body wash by Greune, then a body moisturizer by Lubriderm and a Neutrogena facial cream. I debate between two outfits. One is a wool crepe suit by Bill Robinson I bought at Saks with this cotton jacquard shirt from Charivari and an Armani tie' (76). This statement shows the shallowness of the commercialism that was used to demonstrate how capitalism was winning the Cold War. Nevermind that it was just a string of name dropping meaningless products.GREEN FIELD VENTURES LIMITED BACKGROUND Greed Field Ventures Limited (GFVL) is an agricultural and agro-allied company. It was registered as a limited liability company in 2001. It was initially a partnership between owners of two separate businesses.
Allison owned a mixed-farming venture prior to the partnership while Garku owned a small scale starch processing plant. GFVL has in the past seven years expanded its agricultural and agro-allied production: from cereals and tubers to vegetables and fruits; and from starch processing to juice production. The company’s asset, turnover and profit have grown steady. The net asset of the company grew from $256,240.00 in 2001 to $1,061,870.00.civil wars, three issues were primary causes. Firstly, racial segregation and tribal discrimination, shortage of economic resources and geographical resource disparities are greatest causes of war. These real issues led to a wave of civil wars in 19th and 20th centuries across the globe. References Chamarbagwala, R., & Moran, H.
The Human Capital Consequences of Civil War: Evidence from Guatemala. Guatemala Civil Wat, (3002).
Collier, P., & Hoeffler, A. Greed and grievance in civil wars. Ellingson, T., Gates, S., & Petter, N. Towards a Democratic Civil Peace? Democracy, Political Change and Civil War (1816-1992), 95(1), 33-48.
D., & LAITIN, D.