Mean Gods Part 3: Learning Begins at Home

Last month I introduced how Greek and Roman life was governed by deities, from major gods like Jupiter and Mars to minor spirits who protected crossroads, doors, grain stores, and even drains. They believed that the gods’ favor could be won—through sacrifices, prayers, temples, and elaborate festivals. Wealth, health, and success weren’t just about luck; it was about securing the good graces of those who controlled the cosmos. The best approach? Flatter them, honor them, and never assume their generosity comes without strings attached.

So how did an ordinary Roman navigate this never-ending devotion and avoid catastrophe? The process of adulation began at home. 

Every home had a small household shrine known as the lararium dedicated to their household Lares. If you were wealthy, you may have more than one. Even the poor and enslaved had some form of shrine, often only a crudely carved statue sitting in a wall niche.

The Lares: Household Guardians

The Lares were minor deities believed to protect the home and family. Their presence was honored daily at the lararium, which stood in a prominent area of the house. With outstretched arms. the paterfamilias (head of the household) led the family in morning prayers and offerings, ensuring a favorable relationship between his household and the gods. Daily offerings included wheat, honey cakes, fruit, wine, flowers, and incense. 

A typical prayer might sound like this:

“Greetings, household Lar!
Greetings, Divine Penates!
I humbly ask that you may bestow your blessing upon me, my children, my home, and my household.
Be thou increased by this which I give to you.
So be it!” (Religio Romano: Simple Daily Home Rites and Prayers | ADF: Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship)

During meals and celebrations, statues of the Lares were placed on the table as divine witnesses. They were invoked at significant family events—births, marriages, adoptions—and their shrines served as the religious center of family life.

Here are a few minor household gods 

  • Penates – Gods of the pantry and food storage, ensuring the family had enough to eat, and their provisions were safe. Prayers were said before a meal, thanking the gods for the meal.
  • Vesta – Goddess of the hearth, home, and family, worshiped to keep the household fire burning.
  • Forculus – Protector of doorways.
  • Cardea – Goddess of door hinges and thresholds, guarding against evil spirits entering the home.
  • Limentinus – God of the threshold itself, ensuring safe passage in and out.
  • Janus – God of beginnings, transitions, and doorways; while more significant, he was also invoked in household rituals. (see picture)
  • Cuba – Goddess who helped children sleep peacefully.
  • Cunina – Protector of infants in the cradle.
  • Educa & Potina – Goddesses of nourishment, helping children eat and drink properly.
  • Sterquilinius – God of manure and fertilization, ensuring productive land for farming families.
  • Pilumnus & Picumnus – Gods of infants and fertility, helping protect newborns and mothers.

These gods played an intimate role in Roman family life, showing how religion was deeply woven into even the smallest aspects of daily existence. Neglecting the Lares was a serious risk. A household that failed to honor its guardian spirits could expect neither good fortune nor divine protection. In a world where supernatural intervention was a constant threat, ignoring the gods—no matter how minor—was an invitation for disaster.

“Lares, and you gods also, who earlier made our household fruitful and fortunate, may you guard and bless the little that remains today on our farm. Lares, accept what your kindred presents to you today.”  (Prayers to Lares, Penates and Manes – NovaRoma)

This blog also seen on HHHistory.com – https://www.hhhistory.com/2025/04/mean-gods-part-3-teach-your-children.html

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Lares statue    Luis García, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Laraium  By ArchaiOptix – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91622604

Fresco in Pompeii depicting two lares with rhyton and situla, genius  offering at an altar, flute-player, servant with vase and servant pushing a pig to the altar; below: altar with fruits and eggs between two snakes. (agathodaimones)

Janus God of all beginnings, gates, transitions, time, choices, duality, doorways, passages, and endings  

By Marie-Lan Nguyen (2009), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8962565