The domestic cult in the shape given by Augustus must have been extremely popu-
lar mainly during the first centuryad, as an enormous quantity of bronze statuettes
of the Lares, presumably made at this time, are to be found nearly all over the empire.
In the later centuries they maintained their important position within the domestic
cult, which explains why a Theodosian edict ofad 392 explicitly prohibited secret
veneration of the Lares, the Genius, and the Penates (CTh16.10.12).Summary
The main obstacle to understanding religion in the domestic realm is probably the
prevailing, ubiquitous inconsistency. There is no clear-cut line between sacred and
secular objects and decoration. Strictly speaking, only the main figures of the domes-
tic religion – the Lares and the Genius– in their painted or three-dimensional form
can be judged as unmistakably religious objects. All the other media consist of dif-
ferent layers of meaning which often cannot be neatly separated.FURTHER READINGThere is no comprehensive study of the subject so far, but several aspects are treated separ-
ately. As far as sculpture is concerned, Eugene J. Dwyer (1982) presents the contents of five
Pompeian houses, whereas two recent publications about the terrace houses of Ephesus cover
the whole range of interior decoration of two dwelling units (Lang-Auinger 2003; Thür 2005).
Antonella Coralini (2001), on the other hand, takes one divinity, Hercules, as a starting point.
Bettina Bergmann (1994) analyzes the paintings of the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii
with respect to the art of memory. Three volumes of conference proceedings on Roman
housing (Gazda 1991; Laurence and Wallace-Hadrill 1997; A. Frazer 1998) contain papers
dealing with different aspects of the subject; see, amongst others, Elizabeth Bartman (1991)
and Richard Neudecker (1998) on sculpture collections and Sarah Scott (1997) on late Roman
mosaics.Religion in the House 201ACTC14 26/04/2007 09:38 AM Page 201