'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.''
''For other meanings, see Lares (disambiguation). Lares (sing. Lar, also called Genii loci or, more archaically, Lases) were ancient Roman deities protecting the house and the family, they were a form of household gods.
Lares were 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. Household lararium in <a href="http://reference.findtarget.com/search/Pompeii/" class="wiki">Pompeii</a> Household lararium in Pompeii The Genius loci was presumed to take 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.
In his book Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome, historian Cyril Bailey presents some interesting information regarding the Lares. The festival of the Lares was known as the Compitalia, which refers to the crossroads. The crossroads were the traditional setting for the veneration of the Lares. 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 Lares 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 Fasti, refers to the Lares as the “night watchmen”. Lararia Lararia are small domestic altars to the Lares and other household Gods, most visible in the remains of Pompeii. Often in small niches in very public areas within a house, such as looking down corridors and onto peristyle gardens, they represent a very personal and very important part of Roman domestic religion. The House of Menander has one such lararium within room XXV that had very rustic statuary associated with it, revealing the active use of such altars in the mid-first century AD when Pompeii was destroyed.
Other examples of Lararia at Pompeii include the House of the Vettii, the House of the Golden Cupids and the House of the Ephebus
Non-structural forms of Lararia can be seen through decorative art. The example from the House of the Vettii is perhaps the best known of these. Measuring 1.3m x 2.25m, this alternative forms of expression is in a very visible area within a courtyard of the house; perhaps revealing of its purpose in showing status. Even the stonework surrounding this painting is used to help generate a religious experience as it is styled like a classical temple complete with a detailed pediment. Interestingly, this pediment contains a patera; a bowl used during religious activity, and undoubtedly a very recognisable icon.''
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟΣ ANHP. Étude sur les scènes de la vie intellectuelle figurant sur les monuments funéraires romains, Grenoble, Didier & Richard, 1938 (thèse secondaire) ;
Titre du document / Document title La mosaïque d'Adam dans l'église syrienne de Huarte (V s.) Auteur(s) / Author(s) CANIVET M.-T. ; CANIVET P. ; Résumé / Abstract Au nord d'Apamée. Eglise supérieure A, vers 472. Adam-Orphée, avec animaux et plantes symboliques. 7fig. Rappel des autres résultats des fouilles, dont la première mention de l'évêque Photios d'Apamée, 483. Revue / Journal Title Cahiers Archéologiques Source / Source 1975, vol. 24, pp. 49-69 Langue / Language Français Mots-clés français / French Keywords Huarte ; Syrie ; Mosaïque ; Adam ; Orphée ; Photios d'Apamée ; Christianisme ;
... faragott elefántcsont római köpenycsat, továbbá a római korból, a II-III. századból származó dombormű, mely Orpheuszt ábrázolja hárfával a kezében, ... www.vendegvaro.hu/Arpad-Muzeum-Rackeve
Művészettörténet - 8.hét - Ókeresztény és bizánci művészet
- Az ókeresztény kézművesség legszebb alkotásai az elefántcsont faragványok. ..... témáival (Léda és a hattyú, Orpheusz mítosza, Vénusz születése stb). ... www.sulinet.hu/tovabbtan/.../muvtori8.html
EARLY CHRISTIAN IVORIES, by Joseph Natanson. Pp. 34, pls. 51. .... Orpheus pyxis in Bobbio (Fig. 26) and the large pyxis in Berlin (Fig. ... www.jstor.org/stable/500104
''The Abbey Museum [... ] the Orpheus ivory shrine and the wrought silver Saint Colunbanus bust. In the picture gallery a polyptyc by Luini representing the Assumption.''
- (Jean Thirion Mélanges de l'école française de Rome, 1955, Volume 67, ...... que les représentations d'Orphée aux iiie et ive siècles après J.-C. ont perdu ... www.ecfi-t.com/sfaxreader/french/1955Thirion.pdf
Elaine K. Gazda Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology University of Michigan Kelsey Museum of Archaeology 434 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1390 Tel: 734-647-0438 Email: gazda@umich.edu
Elaine K. Gazda, Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, University of Michigan
''Elaine Gazda has been a professor of classical art and archaeology at Michigan since 1974 as well as a curator at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. She is recipient of the university’s Excellence in Research Award for 1999 and a trustee and frequent visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome, where she co-directed an NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers. Her scholarly interests include Hellenistic and Roman art, particularly Roman sculpture, painting, and building techniques; Etruscan art and archaeology; and the art and archaeology of Graeco-Roman Egypt. She has done fieldwork in Italy at Cosa and Pompeii as well as in Turkey at Pisidian Antioch and Sardis.
She is the editor of The Ancient Art of Emulation: Studies in Artistic Originality and Tradition from the Present to Classical Antiquity; The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse; Roman Art in the Private Sphere; and Karanis: An Egyptian Town in Roman Times.''
Dean's Designate Associate Professor retired, Department of Humanities (Classics)
* B.A. Toronto 1959 * M.A. Toronto 1960 * Ph.D. Toronto, 1967
St. George Office: 97 St George St. E-mail : irwin@utsc.utoronto.ca
"The Songs of Orpheus and the New Song of Christ", Orpheus, The Metamorphoses of a Myth, ed. John R. Warden (University of Toronto Press, 1981 hc., 1985 pb.) 51-62.
Ivan Mortimer Linforth (1879-1976) was an American scholar, Professor of Greek at University of California, Berkeley. According to the Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists he was "one of the great Hellenists of his time".[1] He is best known for his book The Arts of Orpheus (1941). In it he analysed the body of texts dealing with Orpheus and the Orphics. He concluded that there was no exclusively 'Orphic' system of belief in Ancient Greece.[2]
