Women and the Lares: An Augustan Altar (PDF)

article The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar from the Capitoline in Rome harriet i. flower and meghan j. diluzio...

article The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar from the Capitoline in Rome harriet i. flower and meghan j. diluzio 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.1 introduction This paper proposes a detailed reconsideration of a fragmentary and heav- ily weathered lares altar discovered at the site of the Vittorio Emanuele monu- ment on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Despite having been found long ago and being stored in the Museo Nazionale Romano in the Terme di Diocleziano, where it is accessible in an open-air courtyard off the complex housing the storerooms and offices (facing the Via Cernaia), this modest altar has received relatively little scholarly attention in its own right.2 Its small size and simple style immediately identify it as a work of art from a local setting in a nonelite context. Yet, this altar is unusual because it features two women wearing very similar costumes, one on each of its sides, each pouring a libation onto a round altar in a ritual that seems to honor the two merry lares depicted on 1 We would like to thank Carlotta Caruso of the Museo Nazionale Romano alle Terme di Diocleziano for arranging for us to study the altar and for providing a scan of the archive American Journal of Archaeology card. We are grateful for the thoughtful suggestions of the anonymous reviewers for the Volume 123, Number 2 AJA. Figures are the authors’ unless otherwise noted. 2 The altar is Museo Nazionale Romano (MNR) inv. no. 49481. For discussion, see Can- April 2019 dida 1979, 95–8, no. 39, pl. 34G; Hölscher 1984a; 1984b; 1988, no. 221; Hano 1986 in Pages 213–36 ANRW 2.16.3, no. 15bis; Tran 1992 in LIMC s.v. “lares” no. 44; Schraudolph 1993, L104; DOI: 10.3764/aja.123.2.0213 Galinsky 1996, 308; Gesemann 1996, 88–9; Lott 2004, no. 66; Huet 2008, no. 2. Our study of the Terme altar is based on a thorough personal reexamination of its present condition, www.ajaonline.org in situ at the Museo Nazionale Romano at the Terme in Rome. 213 214 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 what is presumably intended to be the front.3 These women, therefore, perform a familiar religious gesture that we see enacted by men on many lares altars, as well as in numerous other representations of Roman ritual practice in a wide variety of civic and municipal set- tings throughout the Roman world in antiquity. Despite its poor state of preservation, the Terme altar can be dated on stylistic grounds to the Augus- tan period and assigned to the well-known series of lares altars from Rome. These were dedicated at the crossroads shrines (compita) in the city by freedmen vicomagistri and were put up in or soon after 7 B.C.E.4 Our discussion will situate the altar within the specific context of this new compital cult for Lares Augusti established by Augustus himself, as well as against the broader background of women worshiping lares inside and outside the home in traditional Roman religious practice. A close reading of this altar in its historical and artistic contexts elucidates its mean- ing and function, and sheds light on both the genre of contemporary altars for Lares Augusti and the depic- tion of women as agents in fulfilling religious duties in Roman art. description of the altar Carved from Luna marble, the altar measures 64 cm high, 42 cm wide, and is preserved to a depth of 18 cm fig. 1. The front of the Terme altar with relief showing twin (figs. 1–3). There is no surviving inscription, although lares on either side of a round altar, each holding a patera and there could have been one on the obliterated, fourth rhyton; found at the Vittorio Emanuele monument, Rome, now side. The degree of weathering that the monument has in the Museo Nazionale Romano at the Terme di Diocleziano, inv. no. MNR 49481 (courtesy Ministero dei beni e delle attività undergone indicates that it was in situ for a consider- culturali e del turismo, Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, able length of time. There also seems to be deliberate il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma). damage to the faces of the two lares, which is not un- typical for altars that were still on view in late antiquity, once traditional cults came under attack by Christians. wear short tunics and boots, a typical costume for a Luckily the faces of the women were not targeted; the lar.5 Each figure holds a rhyton (a horn-shaped vessel attackers were specifically mutilating images of deities for wine) above his head with one hand and grasps a of the traditional religion rather than their worshipers. badly abraded patera (libation bowl) with the other. On what now appears as the front face of the altar, Each lar probably had his own patera, according to two lares are arranged on either side of a circular altar, the typical iconographic pattern. Though not as lively which seems to have a flame lit on top (see fig. 1). They as some examples, their posture and gently billowing tunics indicate that they are represented as dancing. On the right face of the stone, a veiled figure pours a 3 The women are incorrectly described as men in togas by libation over a flame burning on a round altar (see fig. Candida 1979, no. 39; Hano 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, no. 15bis; 2). While Candida and Hano identify this figure as and Tran 1992 in LIMC s.v. “lares” no. 44. The women were identified by Hölscher (1984a; 1984b; 1988, no. 221), who in- terprets them as magistrae of a local women’s organization. 4 For compital shrines under Augustus, see Hölscher 1988, 5 nos. 217–24; Schraudolph 1993, L88–106; Tarpin 2002; and For the dress and attributes of the lares, see Fröhlich 1991, the detailed treatments in Lott 2004 and Flower 2017, 255–347. 120–25; Giacobello 2008, 89–98. 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 215 fig. 3. Left side of the Terme altar, showing a woman dressed in attire very similar to that of the woman on the right side, fig. 2. Right side of the Terme altar, showing a veiled and elabo- probably also pouring a libation on an altar (courtesy Ministero rately dressed woman pouring a libation on a round altar (cour- dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo, Soprintendenza tesy Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo, Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Archeologica di Roma). Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma). a genius,6 its costume and headdress reveal that it is a woman.7 The left face of the monument shows a sec- ond woman wearing very similar attire (see fig. 3). The distinctive costume of these two women will be discussed in more detail below (fig. 4). While the right half of the second female figure is missing, she was surely shown libating like her coun- terpart on the right side of the monument. The ges- ture is a familiar one both in the context of the cult of 6 Candida 1979, 96; Hano 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, no. 15bis. Tran (1992 in LIMC s.v. “lares” no. 44) identifies the figure as “un sacrificateur” in the masculine. 7 As noted by Hölscher 1984a, 291; 1988, 392; Schraudolph 1993, L104; Lott 2004, 218; Huet 2008, 82. While scholars once argued that Roman women were not permitted to sacri- fig. 4. Reconstruction of a woman on the Terme altar pouring fice, this view has been refuted in recent years (see esp. Schultz a libation (drawing by A. Welch). 2006, 131–37; Flemming 2007; Huet 2008; Hemelrijk 2009; Gaspar 2012, 132–36; Rives 2013). 216 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 lares and in many other religious settings, where liba- augustan altars for lares at crossroads tions were common offerings either in themselves or The modest scale and workmanship of the altar sug- to introduce a series of other ritual actions, including gests a dedication by a person—or possibly a group— animal sacrifice. In lares paintings from domestic set- who was not wealthy and who patronized the Lares tings in Pompeii, a genius is typically shown pouring Augusti at a local compital shrine in Rome. In fact, a libation from a patera, often at a small, round altar.8 many crossroads shrines in the densely packed urban Libations were also an important part of the compital landscape of Augustan Rome were probably small, cult within a neighborhood.9 some consisting of no more than niches or paintings By contrast, libating women are relatively rare in on walls like those found in Pompeii.11 Our surviving Roman art. Of the roughly 150 monuments with evidence shows that this altar was not the smallest of scenes of sacrifice that have survived from Rome and its kind; it may well have represented a considerable Italy from the Republican period through late an- investment on the part of its dedicator(s).12 Scholarly tiquity, only 31 include female participants (appx., discussion has naturally tended to focus on the larger pt. 1).10 Ten show women walking in a procession or or better-preserved examples, while this altar illustrates watching a male figure perform a sacrificial rite (appx., local taste in the very center of the old city, if indeed pt. 2), seven show a woman offering incense (appx., it was discovered in situ or near its original home.13 It pt. 3), five show women carrying ritual implements or can be clearly related to other extant lares altars on the offerings (appx., pt. 4), four show a woman pouring a basis of both its size and its iconography. libation (appx., pt. 5), three show a woman libating or The altar is comparable in scale to the smaller ex- offering incense as she presides over an animal sacri- amples among the surviving compital altars found in fice (appx., pt. 6), one shows women participating in Rome, most of which are also fragmentary and simi- a ritual dance (appx., pt. 7), and one shows a group of larly worn by years of exposure to the elements on a female figures participating in a ritual banquet (appx., street corner. Our altar was probably originally square pt. 8). In other words, only four extant examples show (44 x 44 cm) or almost square, with a height of around a woman pouring a libation in a configuration that 64 cm. A lares altar in the Palatine Museum is even is similar to what we see on the Terme altar. In light smaller, at 54 cm high x 33 cm wide x 29 cm deep, as is of the relative scarcity of such images, the little altar one now in the Antiquarium on the Caelian hill, at 44 under consideration here deserves to be carefully cm high x 32 cm wide x 27 cm deep.14 An altar from analyzed with a view to understanding how it con- the Vicus Statae Matris dated to 2 B.C.E. is closer tributes to a more robust picture of the religious life in scale at 68 cm high x 45 cm wide x 30 cm deep of the city of Rome in general and of the cult of the lares in particular. 11 For the network of street shrines in Pompeii, see Van An- dringa 2000 and the detailed maps and photos at http://pom- peiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/Plans/plan_altars. htm. For a general discussion, see Flower 2017, 145–56. 12 Contra Lott (2004, no. 66), who claims that this altar is too 8 Fröhlich 1991, 111–12; Giacobello 2008, 119–20; Flow- small to be a compital altar in comparison with other evidence er 2017, 46–75. Written sources confirm that the lares of the for the cult of the lares at the crossroads. 13 household received offerings of wine and other bloodless sac- Little information is available about the discovery of the rifices (Ov., Fast. 2.636–38; Petron., Sat. 60.8; Plaut., Aulularia Terme altar under the Vittorio Emanuele monument (complet- 24). ed in 1925). What survives of the back shows that the altar was 9 Compare the Vatican compitum, which shows the four vico- smashed into several pieces and significant sections are lost, so it magistri sacrificing, two on the left face of the monument and may well have been found reused in a secondary context. 14 two on the right. The man on the right in each scene pours a liba- The Julio-Claudian altar in the Palatine Museum shows a tion from a patera. The more expensive offering of incense may man in a toga pouring a libation, a situla, an oak wreath, and a have been less common at a local crossroads shrine, although we lar with a rhyton (see Hano 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, no. 15bis; do see it represented in the paintings on Delos that seem to show Schraudolph 1993 L93, Lott 2004, no. 59). The altar from the the Compitalia festival (Flower 2017, 175–91, 189, fig. 3.10). Caelian shows a wreath, a patera, tools of sacrifice, and a laurel 10 For a catalogue of reliefs from other parts of the Roman tree with birds (see Schraudolph 1993, L92). It also bears an in- world, see Oria Segura 2010, 144–47. scription with a dedication to Lares Augusti (CIL 6 443). 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 217 (fig. 5).15 One may also mention an altar for Venus Au- gusta in the Forum Boarium, dedicated by Numerius Lucius Hermeros Aequitas during his third term as local magistrate, that is 63 cm high x 52 cm wide x 44 cm deep.16 In other words, our altar seems to have been a roughly standard size for a smaller altar within the range of what was being produced on commission or offered for sale by local workshops in Rome during the Augustan period. From outside the capital, similar Augustan altars are attested at Amiternum, including an altar that is 59 cm high x 47 cm wide x 47 cm deep, dedicated to lares “in the Roman manner,” according to its inscription, and another at Luni that is 65 cm high x 44 cm wide x 42 cm deep.17 The Luna marble of which our altar is made is typical of what had become fash- ionable by the late first century B.C.E. under Augustus, when Italian marble was much more readily available and, therefore, much more affordable in Rome.18 Regarding iconography, several comparisons with other lares altars are helpful in re-creating the visual resonances of our altar and suggesting its original mi- lieu. The most obvious is the heavily weathered, larger altar from the first year of the new era of the vicomag- fig. 5. Altar with the relief of an oak wreath, dedicated to the istri, which is on display in the Sala delle Muse at the Lares Augusti by four slaves serving as vicoministri from the Vi- Vatican (fig. 6).19 The two lares on its front, although cus Statae Matris in year 6 of the new era in the vici of Rome, 2 rendered on a grander scale and in more detail, are B.C.E., 68 cm high x 45 cm wide x 30 cm deep. Rome, Capito- distinctly similar to our two lares. Each also holds up line Museums, Centrale Montemartini, inv. no. 2144 (K. Anger; a rhyton, they stand near each other, and they face © DAI Rome, neg. D-DAI-ROM 2001.2180). the viewer frontally. The togate figure who pours a libation, at the left of the panel, has not been securely identified; he is making the standard offering but is not facing the lares.20 On the sides of this Vatican altar we see parallel scenes of two togate men with their heads 15 For the altar from the Vicus Statae Matris (Rome, Capito- covered, pouring a libation onto an altar to the music of line Museums, inv. no. 2144), see Hano 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, a flute played by an attendant (fig. 7). The back of the no. 6; Hölscher 1988, no. 220; Schraudolph 1993, L97; Lott altar is not easy to access but seems to have the Augus- 2004, no. 23; Bergmann 2010, no. 31; Flower 2017, 286–87, fig. tan laurel wreath (corona civica) and two laurel trees on 4.11 and 12. The inscription dates its dedication to 18 Septem- it. This altar can be securely identified on the basis of ber 2 B.C.E. (CIL 6 36809a–b; ILS 9250). 16 For the altar dedicated to Venus Augusta (MNR inv. no. its fragmentary inscription as a dedication made to the 205824, AÉpigr 1980.54), see Schraudolph 1993, L160; Lott Lares Augusti by the first college of four vicomagistri in 2004, no. 48; Flower 2017, 331–32, fig. 4.27. its neighborhood, which is to say in the year between 17 For the lares altar at L’Aquila, see Schraudolph 1993, L89, 1 August 7 and 1 August 6 B.C.E.21 with CIL 9 4185; ILS 3628; and Flower 2017, 348. For the altar Our little altar seems to mimic this general icono- from Luni at Bologna that shows a libation and Hermes (Museo graphic scheme on a more modest scale, featuring the Civico Archeologico, inv. no. 1874), see Schraudolph 1993, G1. 18 All the other Augustan lares altars that are definitely from Rome are made of Luna marble. 19 20 For the altar in the Sala delle Muse (Vatican Museums, inv. This figure used to be identified as the Genius Caesarum no. 311), see Hano 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, no. 1; Fless 1995, no. but the restoration of the inscription is implausible, as Dessau 10; Galinsky 1996, 304; Lott 2004, no. 7; Flower 2017, 304–6, already pointed out at ILS 3613. 21 fig. 4.17 and 18. CIL 6 445. 218 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 fig. 6. Relief of two lares with two laurel trees between them and, at the left, an unidentified man pouring a libation, on an altar dedicated to the Lares Augusti by the first board of freed- men vicomagistri, 7 B.C.E., 86 cm high x 81 cm wide x 72 cm deep. Vatican Museums, Museo Pio Clementino, Sala delle fig. 7. Libation scene on the side of the altar in figure 6; two Muse, inv. no. 311 (© Vatican Museums, XXI.25.13). vicomagistri pour a libation to the accompaniment of a flute player (© Vatican Museums, XXI.25.14). twin local gods on the front and single libation pour- ers on the sides. It may therefore also have had Augus- libation to the lares. In sum, these similarities between tan symbols such as the laurel tree or the oak wreath the altar from the Sala delle Muse and our smaller one on its missing side as well as a dedicatory inscription in the Terme can be used to suggest a date in the early there.22 Our altar does not include the Augustan lau- years of the reformed cult, as is the case with most of rel juxtaposed with the twin lares themselves. The the other datable lares altars from Rome. choice to repeat the same round altar with its flame The main difference between the two altars, of on each of the surviving sides evokes and stresses the course, is that our worshipers are women rather than offerings made to the gods while creating continuity men. But what does that mean? So far reactions to between the surviving panel reliefs. The women, who this gender difference have been notably varied. Some are slightly shorter than the two gods, pour a solemn scholars have taken the presence of women as a clear indication that this altar cannot have belonged to a neighborhood compital cult, despite its size, since 22 Discussion here refers to the extant side showing the two we do not know of women as officials in such cults in lares as the “front.” However, the missing fourth side of MNR Rome from other sources, whether epigraphical, vi- 49481 could be either the back or front of the piece, depend- sual, or literary.23 According to this line of argument, ing on how the overall design worked. It could have featured an Augustan symbol such as the oak wreath, laurel tree, or jug for sacrifice. Alternatively, it could have been less generic, with oth- 23 er figures or a dedicatory inscription, although this last option Gesemann (1996, 88–9) reads this as a private altar set up would be less common on an altar this size. At the same time, for lares at a compitum. Lott (2004, no. 66) comes to a similar an altar at a crossroads need not always have had a single front, conclusion independently. See also the interesting altar from since it might face several streets and be used by neighbors ap- Pallanza dedicated to the Matronae for the safety of the emperor proaching from different directions. Gaius by his slave Narcissus (see appx., pts. 1, 7). 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 219 the presence of the women outweighs other similari- the many lares paintings from the Bay of Naples, most ties with neighborhood lares altars. By contrast, Ga- of which were executed in the 60s and 70s C.E.26 linsky has adduced this altar as itself providing direct In the kitchen of the House of Sutoria Primigenia evidence that women had an official role of some kind in Pompeii (I.13.2), we see a scene painted on a large in the compital cult, precisely because we see here a scale showing a sacrifice flanked by tall lares who wear not untypical lares altar with women on its sides mak- the caps of freed slaves (fig. 8).27 The master of the ing libations in a configuration like that of the male fig- house, accompanied by his wife, who stands immedi- ures (vicomagistri) on the altar in the Sala delle Muse.24 ately beside and slightly behind him, pours the liba- Does the altar speak for itself as a piece of independent tion on a circular altar for the twin protective gods. ancient evidence? The player of a double flute stands on the left, and at Meanwhile, it is important to keep in mind that the right is a group of male slaves of various ages, the there is no indication of such iconography on a mar- members of their household. The wife certainly shares ble altar in a domestic setting, especially in the lives in the ritual, but her husband is visually represented as of the less affluent inhabitants of Rome, who lived the main celebrant. She is plainly dressed and wears a tightly packed in rented rooms or slept in their shops. simple veil that sits well back on her head. Her hair is All other similar altars seem to have been used in the clearly visible, and she mirrors the way her husband street. In addition, it is not at all certain that the women has covered his head with the border of his toga in the must necessarily be interpreted as the dedicators of this traditional manner for a Roman sacrifice. Interestingly, altar; they could indeed be so, or they could also be this painting is actually one of the earliest examples of represented on an altar dedicated by a male vicomag- a lares painting from Pompeii and has been dated on ister or another local inhabitant or group, who are the stylistic grounds to the early Augustan period; that is, attested dedicators of other local altars from Rome. In to roughly the same years as our altar. Although the effect, the ritual agency of the women who worship the scene it shows seems to be taking place out of doors, Lares Augusti presents us with a fascinating question it is a very domestic picture, as its location opposite of how we interpret ancient visual evidence, especially the main hearth in a kitchen confirms. The daily audi- in cases of local dedications that do not have surviving ence for this painting would have been the slaves who labels. And the altar may not originally have been in- prepared the food and honored the lares at the hearth scribed, whether because of lack of money or because nearby. This married woman’s role as subordinate but its dedicators were not literate enough to feel the need possible co-celebrant in her husband’s household’s cult for an inscription or did not want to pay for one. of domestic lares contrasts with the individual women There are not many visual depictions of women in who offer their own sacrifices on the Terme altar.28 our varied and widely spread evidence for lares cults, In looking for parallels among the Augustan lares either in the home or at the crossroads shrines. No altars from Rome, we notice that the two largest and women appear in the liturgical paintings on the out- sides of houses on Delos, paintings that seem to de- pict different aspects of the great mid-winter festival 26 For the lares paintings from Pompeii, see Fröhlich 1991; of Compitalia, with its sacrifices and games.25 These Giacobello 2008; Flower 2017. paintings, which were regularly renewed with similar 27 The House of Sutoria Primigenia (I.13.2) was owned by subjects and styles, date to the late second century or L. Helvius Severus. See Fröhlich 1991, 261, L29; Giacobello early first century B.C.E., before the island was sacked 2008, 100, no. 28; Van Andringa 2009, 225, 228–29, 236, 253– 56; Flower 2017, 58–9, pls. 8–10. In the painting outside the by Mithridates VI of Pontus in 88 B.C.E. Similarly, and kitchen of the House of Julius Polybius, the older female figure more strikingly, there is only one image of what can un- who is worshiping the lares is most probably a juno, not a mortal ambiguously be identified as a mortal woman among woman, as is suggested by her size and proximity to the genius who is pouring the libation. She has simply drawn the hem of her red palla over her head, leaving her rather unkempt gray hair clearly visible. See Flower (2017, 59–61, pls. 11–13) for a de- 24 Galinsky 1996, 308. See Hölscher (1984a) for the wom- tailed discussion. 28 en as magistrae of a local collegium, not setting up an altar at a In marriages that did not involve the woman passing into compitum. the man’s manus, the wife would have had no formal role to play 25 For the liturgical paintings on Delos, see Hasenohr 2003; in her husband’s gentilitial cults, which is to say the cult of the Flower 2017, 175–91. penates. See Treggiari (1991) on Roman marriages. 220 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 fig. 9. Altar from the Vicus Sandalarius in Rome, relief show- ing a tripudium scene with the emperor Augustus flanked by a man (probably Gaius Caesar) and a woman (a priestess of the Magna Mater or Livilla, wife of Gaius?), 2 B.C.E. Florence, Uffizi Gallery, inv. no. 972 (H. Behrens; © DAI Rome, neg. D-DAI-ROM 2007.0678). woman who holds an incense box and a libation bowl. A pecking chicken alludes to the traditional Roman fig. 8. Detail from a painted scene of a libation being poured ritual of tripudium, taking the auspices by consulting by a paterfamilias accompanied by his wife and household; at the sacred chickens. The names of the four vicomagistri the left is a tall lar; early Augustan period. In the kitchen of who dedicated the altar, as well as a consular date (early the House of Sutoria Primigenia, Pompeii (I.13.2) (courtesy in 2 B.C.E.), also appear prominently on this side.30 Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo, So- printendenza Pompeii). The complex iconography of this panel appears to refer to one (or more) specific historical religious ritual(s) in the civic cult headed by the emperor best-known extant examples, the altar from the Vicus rather than to the cult of the neighborhood lares. The Sandalarius and the Belvedere altar, both feature chickens are probably being consulted about the ex- women in prominent ritual roles but not in a pat- pedition to the east that Gaius embarked on in that tern that matches our altar. The altar from the Vicus year, taking his formal leave from the nearby Forum Sandalarius is by far the better preserved of the two and of Augustus. This street altar thus commemorates a is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where it has recent civic ritual performed by the emperor and his been since the late 18th century (fig. 9).29 This very presumptive heir near the local neighborhood rather finely designed and executed altar has a distinct main than illustrating the cult of the Lares Augusti to whom side that shows a much-discussed ritual scene involv- the altar is dedicated. The cult of the Lares Augusti ing Augustus himself, flanked by a young male rela- allowed freedmen magistrates to connect themselves tive who is probably Gaius Caesar and a richly dressed and their neighborhood to the emperor, his family, and his broader political and military program. The identity of the woman on the Vicus Sandalar- 29 ius altar is less clear, since neither her dress nor her The altar from the Vicus Sandalarius is part of a new dis- play in the Uffizi Gallery (inv. no. 972, ht. 110 cm x wdth. 90 cm features have so far allowed for more than hypotheti- x depth 60 cm). See Hano 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, no. 2; Rose 1997, no. 33; Lott 2004, no. 20; Bergmann 2010, no. 21; Santan- gelo 2012, 263–66; Flower 2017, 291–98, fig. 4.13–16. 30 CIL 6 448; ILS 3614. 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 221 cal identifications. She is surely a mortal, however. Although the two men are represented with recog- nizable features, she is not easily identified with a Julio- Claudian woman whose portrait type is known to us, such as Livia, the wife of Augustus, for example. She may be a priestess whose appearance here seems con- nected to a different religious ritual than the tripudium with the chickens. A reading of her as the priestess of the Magna Mater is one plausible suggestion.31 Mar- cattili has recently argued that she is Livilla, the new wife of Gaius, whose marriage was also celebrated that year, immediately before his departure for the East.32 Yet the ceremony shown here is not a wedding, and the woman is not obviously dressed as a bride, despite her finery. She also appears older than Livilla, who would have been 12 at the time, although an idealized rep- resentation is obviously also possible. Whoever she may be, she clearly connects women with the offer- ing of incense and wine in the context of a civic cult, whether we see her as a priestly figure or as another family member in a dynastic group. The Belvedere altar in the Vatican, although of a similar size to the altar from the Vicus Sandalarius, is in a much poorer state of preservation.33 It dates to between 12 and 2 B.C.E., according to its inscrip- tion.34 It has been heavily weathered and all the heads of the principal figures have been deliberately defaced, fig. 10. Relief on the Belvedere altar showing two small lar making the interpretation of its complex iconogra- statuettes being presented to three women by an imposing figure (Augustus?) accompanied by two men wearing togas. phy challenging. The apotheosis scene on one of the Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano, inv. no. 1115 long sides shows a woman who is probably a member (© Vatican Museums, A.16.6). of the domus Augusta as a spectator. On one of the short sides (fig. 10), there is a scene set outside at a decorated altar, where a taller figure on the right, pre- patronage. The attendants who receive the lares seem sumably the emperor Augustus, hands over two small to be women.35 Their unbelted tunics and covered statues of dancing lares to three barefoot individu- heads are like the costumes of the male attendants who als in long, unbelted tunics. This is a solemn scene carry the small figures of lares on the reliefs from the of presenting statues of deities in a formal gesture of so-called Altar of the Vicomagistri, dated to the time of Claudius.36 Some have been tempted to see the women on 31 the Belvedere altar as vestal virgins, but they are not For discussion, see Rose 1997, no. 33; 2005. For a different interpretation, see Koortbojian 2013, 73–6. dressed in the usual vestal costume.37 Nor is it plausible 32 Marcattili 2015. to imagine that vestals were ever seen in public without 33 For the Belvedere altar (Vatican Museums, inv. no. 1115, ht. 95 cm x wdth. 97 cm x depth 67 cm), see Hano 1986 in 35 ANRW 2.16.3, no. 10; Hölscher 1988, no. 223; Fless 1995, no. 9; For the women on the Belvedere altar, see Tarpin 2002, Tarpin 2002, 157–62; Spinola 2013; Boldrighini 2014; Flower 160–61; Carandini and Bruno 2008, 73–6; Flower 2017, 2017, 275–82, fig. 4.4–8. For arguments against reading this as 280–82. 36 a compital altar, see Carandini and Bruno 2008; Buxton 2014. The Altar of the Vicomagistri consists of fragments of a Regardless of the original function and situation of this altar, the large public monument (Vatican Museums, inv. nos. 1156–57). scene of women receiving small lares statues is relevant to a read- See Hölscher 1988, no. 224; Fless 1995, no. 18; Gradel 2002, ing of the Terme altar. 165–86; Lott 2004, no. 67. 34 37 CIL 6 876; ILS 83. Tarpin (2002, 160–61) sees them as vestals. 222 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 shoes, especially on a formal religious occasion that in- In Plautus, lares are familiar protective deities, mostly cluded the emperor Augustus. Perhaps these women mentioned in the singular in domestic cults.40 They are the slave attendants of the vestals.38 Alternatively, protect the home, the family, journeys, and weddings they may be magistrae or ministrae in another cult, al- in urban settings. While the person mainly in charge though the altar as a whole does seem to belong to the of this cult is supposed to be the male head of house- series of local lares altars. But the altar from the Vicus hold, in Aulularia (first performed ca. 195 B.C.E.), the Sandalarius demonstrates that an altar for Lares Au- daughter takes over this role and is richly rewarded gusti could depict a religious ritual not connected to its by the lar for her daily pious cultivation of this family own cult, especially when Augustus was involved. It is a god.41 He reveals the existence of a hidden pot of gold great pity that these female figures, who are so closely entrusted to him by her grandfather so that she may associated with Augustus’ lares, are in such poor con- have a dowry to marry her sweetheart. This domestic dition that they cannot be analyzed in more detail. lar is guarding the survival and resources of the fam- Meanwhile, neither the simple dresses and bare feet of ily, as these are passed along from generation to gen- the (possibly slave) women who receive the little lares eration, with a special emphasis on marriage alliances, on the Belvedere altar nor the elaborate jewelry and fertility, and dowry. Her father buys special garlands courtly hairstyle of the much more elite woman from to offer to this lar on the occasion of his daughter’s the Vicus Sandalarius altar resemble what we see on wedding.42 the Terme altar. Yet, all these altars show one or more By contrast, Cato’s work describes life on an ideal- women as religious participants and actors in the gen- ized farm run by male and female freedmen supervi- eral context of the new monuments put up in the local sors (the vilicus and vilica).43 The master and his family neighborhoods of Rome soon after the introduction are notably absent from everyday life on this farm. of the cult of Lares Augusti. Here the vilica is in charge of the daily maintenance of the hearth, where the lar is worshiped with garlands women’s roles in worshiping lares on the named days of each month: the kalends, nones, before augustus and ides.44 This female farm manager is responsible Given the scant visual trace of women in the cult for the household cult, its timing, the content of its of lares in Roman art, it is worth recalling, at least in offerings according to the seasons, and the prayers a summary fashion, that women are well attested in used to supplicate the household god. Similarly, her the cult of the lar or lares, especially in the home, be- male counterpart, who may be her husband but does fore the time when our altar was designed and made. not have to be, is in charge of the annual Compitalia It should not be surprising, in itself, to see a woman festival at the shrines on the farm’s boundaries.45 This pouring a libation to lares at a crossroads altar, a very celebration is one of the few occasions when all the mundane religious gesture in traditional Roman reli- slaves on the farm get a day off and a double ration of gious practice and everyday life. The following brief wine. In this context, the cult of the household lar at survey is designed to suggest the range of evidence the hearth, essential to the prosperity and security of for traditional cults that would have been very familiar the farm and its community, is entrusted to a woman, to Augustus, who was born in Rome and brought up who may often have been one of the few females, if not there and in other towns in Italy.39 the only one, on a farm. Lares are closely connected to women’s domestic roles in the works of the earliest extant authors who wrote in Latin, namely in the plays of Plautus (late 40 third to early second century B.C.E.) and in Cato the For lares in Plautus, see Aulularia 1–39, 385–87; Mostell. 499–500; Trin. 29, 39; Merc. 834–37, 864–65; Rud. 1205–7; Elder’s De Agricultura (mid second century B.C.E. but Mil. 1339. drawing on much traditional material that is older). 41 The prologue of Aulularia (1–39) features the only speak- ing lar in extant Roman literature. 42 For garlands as the usual offerings for a lar, see Cato, Agr. 38 143; Plaut., Aulularia 385–87. See Flower (2017, 282) for the argument in favor of the at- 43 tendants of the vestals. Cato’s De Agricultura is usually dated around 160 B.C.E. 39 44 Galinsky (2012) offers a nuanced and suggestive picture For the vilica’s duties, see Cato, Agr. 143. Roth (2004) dis- of Augustus as a practitioner of a conventional Roman piety he cusses her role and status. 45 had learned as a child. For the vilicus and Compitalia, see Cato, Agr. 5.3, 57.1. 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 223 From around this same time period, a small dedica- Indeed, according to Varro, the first religious act tion to a lar from an archaic sanctuary at Tor Tignosa in of a married woman (matrona) was to leave her new Latium seems also to have been made by a woman, in home to make an offering of a coin at the local com- this case a freeborn Roman citizen.46 The inscription pital shrine. Varro’s bride echoes the connection be- on this weathered stone is very hard to read, but La tween brides and gifts for lares already spoken of as Regina’s new interpretation argues for a single female customary by Plautus. There is no reason to assume dedicator honoring a singular lar outside the domestic that the wedding day was the only occasion on which context. This altar provides the earliest epigraphical a Roman woman made an offering at her local compi- evidence for the cult of a lar. The woman making this tal shrine; rather, it represented her introduction to a dedication may have performed gestures and rituals new neighborhood cult that she would now observe as very similar to the one we see on the Terme altar. If this an inhabitant protected by these neighborhood lares, reading of the Latin is correct, it is striking to see that even as she was now also guarded by a different lar in women were involved with lares at home, on the farm, her new home. Can we connect the women depicted and in a sanctuary precinct over two centuries before on the Terme altar to any of this earlier evidence for Augustus’ urban reform introduced Lares Augusti at women and lares in traditional cults? the compital shrines in Rome. Meanwhile, women’s leadership roles in local organizations seem attested by the women’s costume on the terme altar a series of inscriptions from Minturnae dating to the Because clothing and other physical adornment early first century B.C.E.47 It is possible, although not signified a Roman’s place in the social order, as well as certain, that these women’s organizations at Minturnae indicating a religious role, the costume of the women were connected to local lares cults. on the Terme altar is a key piece of evidence for estab- Beyond these examples, the most striking connec- lishing their identity.50 Given the size and workman- tion between women and lares can be found in Varro’s ship of the altar, it would never have exhibited the fragmentary description of the Roman wedding cer- degree of detail that we see on larger, more expensive emony. According to Varro, a Roman bride arrived at monuments. Moreover, the poor condition of the fig- her new husband’s house carrying three bronze coins.48 ures hampers the interpretation of certain items. Even The first, carried in her hand, she gave to her husband so, those elements that are readable allow us to form as she entered the house. The second, carried in her a reasonably full impression of the women’s clothing shoe, was then presented to the household lar, presum- and accessories and thus of their relationship to the ably at the hearth. The third coin, which she had in a religious ritual they are performing.51 purse, was destined for the lares at the local crossroads The figure on the right face of the altar (see fig. 2) shrine. Varro recorded this practice around the middle wears a long tunic with elbow-length sleeves.52 Her veil of the first century B.C.E., but, unfortunately, we do falls straight from the top of her head behind her right not know how common it was. Here we catch a vivid shoulder. While her midsection is damaged, it seems glimpse of the importance of lares cults to a Roman that the garment was drawn under her right arm and bride, who might also have dedicated her toys to her across her waist, presumably resting on her left arm, lares at home before her wedding day.49 as is the veil worn by her counterpart on the opposite side of the altar (see fig. 3). This arrangement leaves her right hand free to pour the libation. A soft, closed- 46 The dedication at Tor Tignosa (MNR inv. no. 135847) is toe shoe is visible beneath the hem of her tunic. She inscribed on a small tapered cippus of peperino stone. For the appears to wear her hair combed away from her face inscription, see CIL 12 2843; ILLRP 1271; La Regina 2015. 47 For the Minturnae inscriptions set up by women, see John- son 1933, nos. 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 17. Dessau’s selection at ILLRP 724–46 does not highlight these examples. For discussion, see Flower 2017, 226–33. For dedicating toys to Venus, see Persius 2.70. 48 50 For the three bronze coins of the Roman bride, see Varro, Important studies of Roman clothing include Wilson De Vita Populi Romani 1.25 (ca. 40s B.C.E.) quoted by Nonius 1938; Bonfante Warren 1973 in ANRW 1.4:584–614; Sebesta 852L with Flower 2017, 78–85. Hersch (2010) is the best intro- and Bonfante 1994; Scholz 1998; Croom 2002; Cleland et al. duction to the Roman wedding. 2005; Edmondson and Keith 2008; Olson 2008; Harlow 2012. 49 51 For toys dedicated to the lares, see Horace, Sat. 1.4.65–6, Contra Hölscher 1984a. 52 with scholia; Non. 538 = 863L; Persius 5.30–1; Prop. 4.1.131–32. For the tunica, see especially Croom 2002, 78–80. 224 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 and arranged in a roll over her forehead.53 A narrow distinctive V-shaped neckline and over-the-shoulder headband is visible between this hair roll and the edge straps are clearly visible on a number of portraits and of her mantle. While the shape and appearance of the sculpted reliefs, including the funerary portraits of hairstyle beneath the mantle is less clear, it is notice- freedwomen eager to demonstrate their new status ably high for the time period and the local context, at a within the community (fig. 11).58 The majority of time when the simple nodus coiffure, seen on portraits stolate portraits belong to the Julio-Claudian period, of Augustus’ wife Livia and his sister Octavia, was in which may indicate that Augustus encouraged the use vogue.54 The nodus hairstyle featured a small bun at of the stola along with the toga.59 The women on the the back of the head and a prominent topknot (nodus) Terme altar, however, wear long tunics without the over the forehead, which was formed by combing a sec- matronal overdress, even though the monument can tion of hair forward, sweeping it up at the hairline, and be dated to the Augustan period on stylistic grounds.60 then looping it back again in a braid along the middle While the absence of evidence for the stola does not of the head. preclude the possibility that they are matronae (after The two women on the altar wear similar clothing, all, not every married woman who commissioned a headdresses, and hairstyles. Several features of this cos- portrait statue or relief had herself depicted wearing tume are suggestive of the figures’ identities. First, they the garment), it does suggest that we should carefully are not slaves. In Roman art, slave women are typically consider other possibilities. depicted wearing calf- or ankle-length tunics and short Certain details of the costume might suggest that the shawls, as the women standing opposite Augustus on women are vestal virgins, even as the woman on the the Belvedere altar do (see fig. 10).55 Shorter garments Vicus Sandalarius altar can be read as a priestess. While were less expensive and less likely to hamper manual scholars have long held that the vestals wore the stola, labor. They also distinguished the wearer from citizen ancient evidence indicates that they wore the tunic women, who communicated superior social status by alone.61 In public, they covered themselves with the covering themselves from head to toe with a long tunic palla. The vestals wore a special coiffure known as the and a voluminous palla, a rectangular mantle that could seni crines (six-tressed hairstyle), which was composed be used to veil the head and upper body.56 These gar- of a series of six braids arranged in a bun at the back ments not only made manual labor impossible, they of the head.62 Over the seni crines they wore an infula, also symbolized the sexual virtue (pudicitia) expected a woolen fillet made from white and scarlet threads of the women who wore them. that was wound around the head up to six times,63 and The long tunics and concealing mantles of the women on the Terme altar advertise both their citi- zen status and moral probity. At the same time, the Festus (Paulus) 112L; Hor., Sat. 1.2.29; Macrob., Sat. 1.6.13; women do not seem to be represented specifically as Mart. 1.35.8–9; Ov., Pont. 3.3.52; Tib. 1.6.68; Varro, Ling. 8.28, matronae. Citizen women in a legal marriage to another 9.48, 10.27; CIL 10 6009; Wilson 1938, 152–62; Sebesta 1994; citizen distinguished themselves from women of other Scholz 1998, esp. 13–32; Croom 2002, 75–8; Olson 2008, 27–33. social groups by wearing the stola, a sliplike garment 58 Zanker 1975; Kockel 1993, 50–1, 77; George 2004, 44– worn over the tunic and belted under the breast.57 Its 50; Corbier 2008; Olson 2008, 29–30; Perry 2014, 132. 59 As argued by Sebesta (1997). See also Zanker 1988, 165– 66; Olson 2008, 32–3. 53 60 Contra Hölscher (1984a, 291), who interprets the hair as Contra Huet (2008, 90), who suggests that the woman on being waved back from a central part. the right side of the altar wears a stola. Neither of us was able to 54 For the nodus coiffure, see Wood 1999, 42, figs. 1–5, 9–29, see a stola during several visits to study the Terme altar. 61 32–3, 35–8. Staples 1998, 146; Bartman 1999, 95; Olson 2008, 27; 55 Croom 2002, 80; Olson 2008, 44–6. DiLuzio 2016, 172–82. 56 62 For the palla, see Juv. 10.262; Prop. 4.9.47; Wilson 1938, Festus 454L; Dragendorff 1896; Bonfante Warren 1973 148–50; Sebesta 1994, 48–9; Croom 2002, 89–91; Olson 2008, in ANRW 1.4, 596; Sensi 1980–1981, 91–2; La Follette and 33–6. The written sources suggest that respectable women were Wallace 1992; La Follette 1994, 56–61; Mekacher 2006, 46–7; expected to veil their heads whenever they appeared in public Wildfang 2006, 11–3; Olson 2008, 22–3; Hersch 2010, 73– (see esp. Sen., Controv. 2.7.6; Val. Max. 6.3.10), though see the 80; Stephens 2013; Gallia 2014, 225; Lindner 2015, 114–18; reservations expressed by Olson 2002; 2008, 40–1; Hughes DiLuzio 2016, 155–65. 63 2007. For the infula, see Festus (Paulus) 100L; Isid., Origines 57 For the appearance and social significance of the stola, see 19.30.4; Lucr. 1.87–8; Prud., C. Symm. 2.1085, 1094; Servius ad 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 225 fig. 11. Drawing of a Roman woman wearing a stola, based on a marble statue from the Augustan period, Vatican Muse- ums, Museo Gregoriano Profano, inv. no. 9839 (drawing by A. Welch). bands of wool known as vittae that were secured to the infula at the back of the head and arranged in large loops on either shoulder.64 When they sacrificed, the fig. 12. Portrait statue of a vestal virgin, early second century vestals put on a white veil with a purple border known C.E. Museo Nazionale Romano at the Terme di Diocleziano, as the suffibulum, which covered the head and shoul- inv. no. MNR 639 (courtesy Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo, Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, ders and was fastened under the chin with a fibula il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area archeologica di Roma). (clasp).65 Distinctive closed-toe shoes made of felt or leather completed the full vestal regalia, which we would expect in a ritual context.66 With the exception the costume worn by the women on the Terme altar of the shoes, each element of this costume is visible on with contemporaneous evidence for the special cos- a late Hadrianic torso of a vestal virgin now on display tume worn by the priestesses of Vesta. All six vestals in the small cloister of the Terme museum (fig. 12).67 appear in the procession scene that wraps around the The vestals appear on several reliefs produced dur- parapet of the altar of the Ara Pacis Augustae (dedi- ing the principate of Augustus, allowing us to compare cated 9 B.C.E.; fig. 13).68 They wear long tunics that reach the ground and cover everything but their char- acteristic shoes. Their voluminous pallae, which are Aeneid 10.538; Virgil, G. 3.487; Aen. 2.430, 10.538; La Follette wrapped tightly around their shoulders and draped 1994, 57–61; Lindner 1995, 67–80; Fantham 2008, 163–68; over their left arms, fall well past their knees. While Stephens 2013; Lindner 2015, 109–13; DiLuzio 2016, 165–71. 64 Lindner 1995, 70–4; Fantham 2008, 163–68; Stephens the heads of five of the six figures are badly damaged, 2013; Lindner 2015, 109–13; DiLuzio 2016, 165–71. The vittae traces of the suffibulum are visible on the smallest ves- worn by the vestals must be distinguished from the vittae used tal in the scene. by matronae to bind up the cone-shaped tutulus hairstyle (on The vestals on the roughly contemporaneous Sor- which see Festus 484–486L; Varro, Ling. 7.44; Sebesta 1994, rento Base are similarly attired.69 Although the figures 49–50; DiLuzio 2016, 38–9). For the matronal vittae, see also Ov., Ars am. 3.483, Rem. am. 386, Pont. 3.3.51–2; Plaut. Mil. 790–93; Tib. 1.6.67; Verg., Aen. 7.403; Sebesta 1994, 48–50; 68 Olson 2008, 36–9. For the Ara Pacis Augustae, see Torelli in LTUR for discus- 65 Festus 474L; Festus (Paulus) 475L; Varro, Ling. 6.21; Di- sion and bibliography. 69 Luzio 2016, 171–72. Sorrento, Museo Correale di Terranova, inv. no. 3657; Ry- 66 Lindner 1995, 245; Mekacher 2006, 48; DiLuzio 2016, berg 1955, 49–51; Guarducci 1964; Hölscher 1988, 375–78; 182–83. Cappelli 1990; Thompson 2005, 74–99; Mekacher 2006, 154– 67 MNR inv. no. 639. 55, 250. 226 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 fig. 13. Detail of the procession from the inside of the Ara Pacis Augustae (13–9 B.C.E.) showing the vestal virgins and their attendants (B. Malter; © Cologne Digital Archaeology Laboratory, http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/ marbilder/404118). are in poor condition, it is possible to distinguish case, the priestesses’ suffibula surely cover the distinc- their closed-toe shoes peeking out from beneath their tive loops of their vittae beneath. tunics, the folds of their heavy pallae, and the rosette- Like the vestals, the women on the Terme altar wear shaped fibulas that secure their suffibula. Scholars gen- long tunics, substantial pallae, closed-toe shoes, and erally agree that the vestals in this scene and those on infulae. They are not veiled with suffibula, however, a similar relief in Palermo are shown participating in nor do they wear vittae. While the loops of the vittae the foundation of a new shrine to Vesta in the house could have been added with paint, it is far less likely of Augustus on the Palatine in 12 B.C.E. (fig. 14).70 that the suffibulum, which the vestals wore whenever On the Palermo relief, four priestesses stand beside a they offered a sacrifice, would have been rendered in seated statue of Vesta. The togate figure who pours a this way.71 As Lindner has stressed, either the suffibu- libation at a small round altar is interpreted as Augus- lum or the vittae (or both) must be present in order for tus. The vestals wear belted tunics, closed-toe shoes, a portrait or a figure on a sculpted relief to be identified and suffibula fastened with small, round fibulas. They as a priestess of Vesta.72 In the absence of these distinc- are not wearing pallae. In sum, reliefs from the time of tive attributes, it seems unlikely that the women on our Augustus represent the vestal costume as consisting of little altar represent vestals, though it is possible that a long tunic, closed-toe shoes, and either the suffibu- they are understood to be making a private offering, lum and palla together or the suffibulum alone. In each and thus are not depicted in their full regalia. A survey of roughly contemporaneous public reliefs that show nonvestal women sacrificing likewise fails 70 Palermo, Museo Archeologico Regionale, inv. no. 1539 (see appx., pt. 4); see also Ryberg 1955, 51–3; Guarducci 1964; 71 1971, 95–6; Cappelli 1990; Thompson 2005, 89–95; Mekacher For the suffibulum, supra n. 65. 72 2006, 156–62, 251. Lindner 2015, 99. 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 227 fig. 14. Relief showing the seated goddess Vesta with four vestal virgins and a togate figure (Augustus?) with items destined to be offered in a sacrifice, late first century B.C.E. Palermo, Museo Archeologico, inv. no. 1539 (© DAI Rome, neg. D-DAI-ROM 71.650). to yield an exact parallel for the women on the Terme segmented infula, and a palla, which she uses to veil altar.73 As already noted, the costume worn by the li- her head. Her softly waved hair is characteristic of the bating woman on the altar from the Vicus Sandalarius early imperial period. A priest stands on the opposite does not match the costume of the women on our side of the altar and pours a libation from a small pa- altar. From a slightly later period, a relief in the Vatican tera. Behind the woman, an attendant holding an ax shows a female figure sprinkling incense over a fire on approaches with a steer, a typical offering for a deified an altar.74 She wears closed-toe shoes, a belted stola, a emperor. While the priest has been restored with an Antonine head, the close-clipped beard of the victimar- ius resembles those worn by attendants on fragments 73 Portrait statues are not considered here. Art historians gen- from the Ara Pietatis, which has been assigned to the erally acknowledge that portraits are a problematic source for time of Claudius.75 Like the altar of the Vicus San- the dress of Roman women because the drapery of female statu- ary tends to be highly stylized and often follows standard types dalarius, the Vatican relief appears to show a religious that derive from Greek forms, such as the so-called small and ritual in the civic cult, perhaps a sacrifice in honor of a large Herculaneum women types (see esp. Bieber 1962; 1977, deified emperor. Indeed, Ryberg has suggested that the 148–62; Trimble 2000; 2011; Davies 2002; Fejfer 2008, 335). For a discussion of portrait statues that show their subjects li- bating or burning incense, see Lindner 2015, 235–56. For ad- ditional examples of women offering incense or a libation from from paterae indicate a public sanctuary. The steer is a typical later periods, see the appendix, parts 3, 5, and 6. offering for a deified emperor, and the presence of a priest and 74 Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Clementino, inv. no. 539 priestess together suggests that the scene depicts a sacrifice to (see appx., pt. 3); see Ryberg 1955, 96, fig. 45e; Fless 1995, no. one of the deified emperors, whose cults were entrusted to a fla- 24; Huet et al. 2004, 210, no. 99; Huet 2008, 91. The object of men and a flaminica. 75 the sacrifice is uncertain. The bucrania and garlands suspended For the date, see Ryberg 1955, 96; Fless 1995, no. 24. 228 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 woman is Agrippina acting in her capacity as flaminica Claudialis.76 Once again, however, her costume differs from what we see on the Terme altar. In addition to these public monuments, we may compare our altar to three private reliefs from the first century C.E. The funerary monument of Q. Lollius Alcamenes shows a woman offering incense at a small portable altar.77 Alcamenes sits opposite her, holding the bust of a young child. The woman, presumably his wife, is veiled with a voluminous palla, which she has drawn under her right arm and flung over her left shoulder to create a diagonal line across her upper body. The verism of the portrait of Alcamenes suggests a date in the early Flavian period.78 From this same period, the famous crane relief from the tomb of the Haterii shows an elderly woman burning incense at an altar before the kline monument of Hateria Helpis.79 She wears a long dress with a pronounced overfold but no veil. From outside Rome, a badly worn relief from Bugnara that dates to the middle of the first century C.E. shows a woman offering incense at a flaming altar (fig. 15).80 A much smaller attendant, perhaps a child, stands beside her holding a basket and a piglet. The inscription identifies the woman as Helvia Quarta, priestess of Ceres and possibly of Venus as well.81 She is dressed in an ankle-length tunic and veiled with a fig. 15. Stele from Bugnara (Santa Maria delle Neve) show- palla, perhaps in combination with an infula. While ing Helvia Quarta, a priestess of Ceres and the freedwoman of the size and condition of the monument make it dif- Helvia, pouring a libation with an attendant, first century C.E. CIL 9 3089 (© CIL, inv. no. PH0001553). ficult to analyze her coiffure, it does not appear that there is sufficient space for the hairstyle that we see on the Terme altar. Each of these three women performs a sacrificial gesture not unlike the gesture performed on our altar, they demonstrate clearly that not every by the women on our altar. They wear strikingly differ- sacrificing woman must be read as a priestess. ent costumes, however. Although these private monu- Given that the Terme altar functioned as a compital ments, like the public monuments considered above, shrine, the most sensible place to seek an answer for contribute little to help us identify the female figures the identity of our women may be in the cult of lares. As we have seen, their costume rules out a connection with the women on the Belvedere altar, while the fact that they are the main celebrants makes it unlikely that 76 Ryberg 1955, 96. Agrippina was made flaminica Claudia- the scene depicts a domestic cult, in which married lis by a decree of the senate following her husband’s death in 54 women worshiped the household lares alongside their C.E. (Tac., Ann. 13.2.3). 77 husbands, though in a subordinate role. There are, on CIL 6 29707 (Rome, Villa Albani, inv. no. 984); Huet 2008, 90–1; Lindner 2015, 227–28. the other hand, strong indications that the women on 78 Lindner 2015, 228 n. 6. our altar are brides, who shared some aspects of vestal 79 Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano, inv. no. costume and who visited lares altars at the crossroads 9998; Huet 2008, 91. on their wedding day. 80 CIL 9 3089 (Bugnara, Santa Maria delle Neve); Huet 2008, As in many cultures, the Roman bride wore a dis- 90, fig. 3; Hemelrijk 2015, 90. 81 Only the title “sacerdos Cere[ris]” is preserved. The CIL en- tinctive costume to mark her transition from unmar- try suggests an erasure and supplies “et Veneris” on the basis of similar inscriptions from the same area (CIL 9 3087, 9 3090). 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 229 ried virgin to wedded wife.82 On the night before her This veil was thought to bring good luck as it was worn wedding, she put on a white tunica recta (straight continuously by the flaminica Dialis, wife of Jupiter’s tunic) that she had (ideally) woven with her own main priest, the flamen Dialis, whose marriage could hands on an upright loom.83 On the day of the wed- not be dissolved by divorce.90 The written sources sug- ding, this tunica was belted with a cingulum (girdle) gest that the wedding veil was made from a lightweight, tied with a nodus Herculaneus (Herculean knot), which transparent material that shielded the face of the bride the groom would have to untie once the couple had without completely obscuring her features.91 They also retired to their bridal couch.84 Her hair having been tell us that the flammeum was dyed luteum, a distinctive parted with a hasta caelibaris (celibate spear),85 it was golden-yellow color that was worn only by brides and arranged in the seni crines coiffure, apparently because the flaminica Dialis.92 Catullus implies that the bride’s this hairstyle evoked the chastity of the vestal virgins.86 socci (slippers) were luteum as well.93 Propertius implies that the bride wore a woolen head- Unfortunately, visual evidence for the Roman bridal band as well, though he uses the term vitta, rather than costume is limited. While interpretations of the early infula.87 The Roman bride was also reported to have Augustan-period fresco known as the Aldobrandini worn a corolla (small crown) composed of flowers, ver- Wedding vary, some have seen the central, seated benae (leafy twigs from aromatic shrubs), and herbs woman as a bride.94 She wears closed-toe shoes that that she had gathered herself.88 Over this crown she put match the hue of the yellow veil lying on the bed beside on a large, diaphanous veil known as the flammeum.89 her. A woman shown seated on an ivory couch in the wall painting to the left of the entrance of Room 5 of the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii wears a deep yel- 82 For the costume of the bride, see esp. Wilson 1938, 138– low veil with a purple border.95 The presence of other 45; La Follette 1994; Croom 2002, 111–12; Olson 2008, 21– objects associated with the Roman wedding, includ- 5; Hersch 2010, 69–114. The description that follows is drawn ing a betrothal ring and a marriage contract, indicate from written and visual evidence spanning a variety of literary that the seated woman is a bride and suggest that her genres and artistic media dating from the Late Republican pe- riod to late antiquity; presumably not every bride wore every yellow veil should be interpreted as her flammeum.96 It article of clothing or adornment mentioned in these sources. is unclear, however, how faithfully these scenes depict 83 For the tunica recta, which Festus calls the tunica regilla (royal tunic), see Festus 364L; Plin., HN 8.194; Wilson 1938, 138–39; La Follette 1994, 54–5; Olson 2008, 21; Hersch 2010, 108–9. The bride also wore a yellow reticulum (hairnet) on Croom 2002, 112; Olson 2008, 21–2; Hersch 2010, 94–106; the night before the wedding (Festus 364L; Olson 2008, 21; DiLuzio 2016, 40–2. 90 Hersch 2010, 106–8), though she dedicated this ornament to Festus (Paulus) 82L. 91 the lares familiares (Varro in Non. 869L), presumably before ar- Claud., De raptu Proserpinae 2.322–5; Festus 179L; Luc. ranging her hair in the seni crines hairstyle (see below). 2.360–361; Mart. 12.42.3; Petron., Sat. 26.1; Schol. ad Juv. 84 Festus (Paulus) 55L; Olson 2008, 21; Hersch 2010, 6.225; [Seneca], Octavia 699–702; Olson 2008, 22; Hersch 109–12. 2010, 98–102. 85 92 Arn., Adv. nat. 2.67; Festus 55L; Ov., Fast. 2.557–62; Plut., Plin., HN 21.46. For the flammarii (or flammeari), dyers at Quaest. Rom. 87; Rom. 15.5; La Follette 1994, 60–1; Olson Rome who specialized in producing the color of the flammeum, 2008, 23–4; Hersch 2010, 80–4. see Festus (Paulus) 79L; Plaut., Aulularia 510. 86 93 Festus 454L. For the seni crines, supra n. 62. In his epithalamium celebrating the marriage of L. Manlius 87 Prop. 4.3.15, 11.33–5; Rossbach 1853, 287; Treggiari Torquatus, Catullus calls upon Hymenaeus, the god of the wed- 1991, 163; Sebesta 1994, 48–9; Hersch 2010, 84–9. For a more ding, to appear wearing what has been understood as a bridal skeptical approach, see La Follette 1994, 56; Fantham 2008, costume, complete with a yellow veil, a crown of marjoram, and 166; Olson 2008, 145. a “yellow slipper on snowy white foot” (niveo gerens | luteum 88 Festus (Paulus) 56L; Wilson 1938, 143–44; La Follette pede soccum, 61.9–10). See Wilson 1938, 143; Treggiari 1991, 1994, 56; Olson 2008, 24; Hersch 2010, 89–92. On the so- 163; La Follette 1994, 56; Croom 2002, 112; Olson 2008, 22; called Sarcophagus of the Brothers now in the Museo Arche- Hersch 2010, 112. 94 ologico Nazionale in Naples (inv. no. 6603; Reinsberg 2006, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano, Sala delle 142–44, no. 36), a female attendant identified as Venus places a Nozze Aldobrandine, inv. no. 79631; Olson 2008, 25. 95 crown of flowers on the head of the bride (or wife) in a rare de- For an introduction to the frieze in Room 5 of the Villa of piction of the bedecking of the bride. the Mysteries at Pompeii, see Gazda 2000. 89 96 For the flammeum, see Catull. 61.8–10; Festus 79L; Festus As suggested by Bieber 1928, 313; Toynbee 1929, 71. For (Paulus) 82L; Luc. 2.360–64; Plin., HN 21.46; Wilson 1938, an overview of various approaches to this figure, often described 141–42; Boëls-Janssen 1989, 119–21; La Follette 1994, 55–6; as the domina, see Kirk 2000. 230 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 the costume of a Roman bride, as wall paintings tend coiffure, the roll of hair worn by the women on our to be highly imaginative and colors may not be identi- altar resembles the prominent hair roll found on vestal cal to those on a fabric veil. portraits from the Imperial period, including on the Well known is the flammeum appearing on sarcoph- Hadrianic vestal in the Terme museum (see fig. 12). agi showing the so-called dextrarum iunctio, a common Although neither figure is depicted wearing the nodus visual motif in which two figures join right hands. Herculaneus or a corolla of flowers and herbs, these However, most scholars now interpret this gesture as items may have been omitted because of the size of the a generic symbol of marital concord, rather than as a altar or may have been indicated with paint. The belt depiction of a specific moment from the marriage cer- might also have been covered by the veil or understood emony.97 In addition, the sarcophagi themselves show to have been. Taken together, the costume, hairstyle, a wide range of drapery configurations, which further and headdress worn by the women on the Terme altar complicates efforts to use such scenes as evidence for most closely resemble those of brides. the appearance of the flammeum. For instance, on a biographical sarcophagus from the late second century interpreting the terme altar C.E., now in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, the wife In reading the small altar in the Terme Museum, (or bride) wears her veil pulled low over her forehead its scale, context in the city, and the particular details (fig. 16);98 other examples, including a roughly con- of its iconography all need to be taken into consider- temporaneous sarcophagus in the Los Angeles County ation. What we have here is a modest local altar that Museum of Art,99 show the edge of the veil sitting far- depicts women wearing distinctive costumes and mak- ther back on the head. In any case, we should prob- ing a solemn libation to the lares (now Lares Augusti) ably assume that the unique golden-yellow color of at the crossroads. The fact that there are two women the flammeum, rather than its shape or the exact way it wearing very similar attire making the same offering was worn, was its most distinctive feature.100 evokes a shared practice rather than unique individual The two female figures on the Terme altar wear a narratives of personal interaction with local protective number of items that may be identified as character- deities.101 If the altar was offered by these two women, istic attributes of the Roman bride, including their they are memorializing a shared religious occasion. voluminous veils and soft, closed-toe shoes, and their Alternatively, the altar may well have been set up by general appearance of being carefully swathed from others, most plausibly the usual vicomagistri, who me- head to toe contributes as well to this interpretation. morialized this type of offering carried out by women These articles of clothing would have been brightly in what was a habitual and easily recognizable ritual at painted when the altar was new, allowing the viewer a compital shrine. The simplicity of the design and the to recognize the women easily as brides. Their long local, nonelite setting do not suggest a recondite ref- tunics should, therefore, be understood to represent erence to a rare occasion. As noted above, the women the tunica recta, and the narrow headbands over their are elaborately dressed and thoroughly wrapped from coiffures are presumably woolen infula. As we might head to toe. Particularly striking is the elaborate hair- expect, since brides and vestals shared the seni crines style and headdress that is worn under their veils, in contrast to the much simpler veils seen in the few other depictions of women honoring lares, whether in paint- 97 Rodenwaldt 1935, 1–27; Koch and Sichtermann 1982, ing or relief. 98; Reinsberg 2006, 81; Hersch 2010, 101–2, 208–12. The dex- This headdress and the general aspect of these trarum iunctio gesture appears in a less elaborated form on other women suggest either a vestal virgin or a bride, since types of funerary monuments as well, particularly on funerary altars and reliefs set up by freedmen, where it has been thought brides shared some elements of the vestal costume to function as a marker of citizen status by indicating that the on their wedding day. As this altar is not the gift of a spouses had been living in a iustum matrimonium (legally val- wealthy person (such as a vestal virgin) and does not id marriage). For discussion and examples, see Altmann 1905; belong to the genre of public art commissioned by the Zanker 1975, 285; Kleiner 1977; 1987, 124; Kockel 1993, 50. senate or emperor, a bride seems a more likely figure 98 Mantua, Palazzo Ducale, inv. no. 186; Reinsberg 2006, 202, no. 33. 99 Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, inv. no. 101 47.8.9; Reinsberg 2006, 200–1, no. 29. For an introduction to narratives of personal religion, see 100 As stressed by Wilson 1938, 141; Olson 2008, 22. Rüpke 2013. 2019] The Women and the Lares: A Reconsideration of an Augustan Altar 231 fig. 16. Detail of a marble sarcophagus of the second century C.E. showing the dextrarum iunctio of a bride and groom. Mantua, Palazzo Ducale, inv. no. 186 (H. Koppermann; © DAI Rome, neg. D-DAI-ROM 62.128). on this local altar than a grand vestal. Brides would have been among the most characteristic and visually striking visitors at such a crossroads shrine. The altar might memorialize a particular wedding or weddings in one or more families, if there were the usual mul- tiple dedicators. Alternatively, the reliefs could refer more generally to brides honoring local lares on their wedding days. Although this scene does not illustrate the offering of the bronze coin described by Varro, it would come as no surprise if a bride often poured a li- bation (in addition to giving a coin), a ubiquitous and natural gesture in Roman ritual practice and individual religious experience. Honoring the lares at the crossroads was a tradi- tional part of several rites of passage. For example, we see two finely executed bullae, the lockets worn by fig. 17. Two bullae, an oak wreath, and a situla carved in relief freeborn boys, on a fragmentary Augustan lares altar on an Augustan compital altar from Rome. Rome, Capitoline from the Capitoline Museums (fig. 17).102 Just as a Museums, Centrale Montemartini, inv. no. 1276 (B. Malter; young girl might offer her doll to the lares immedi- © Cologne Digital Archaeology Laboratory, http://arachne. ately before her wedding day, a male citizen regularly uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/1415216). took off his bulla and dedicated it to his household 102 For the fragmentary altar with the two bullae, see Hano deities when he assumed the toga of manhood (toga 1986 in ANRW 2.16.3, no. 8; Schraudolph 1993, L98; Lott virilis), which marked his transition to adult life in the 2004, no. 56; Flower 2017, 83–4, fig. 2.1 and 2. For the bullae community. In this case also, we may imagine that the of young boys generally, see the thorough treatment in Palmer 1989. local vicomagistri were memorializing a traditional 232 Harriet I. Flower and Meghan J. DiLuzio [aja 123 practice while celebrating the freeborn status of their making reference to well-known Augustan images, own sons or grandsons. The two bullae on the Capi- such as the laurel tree, oak wreath, and sacrificial ves- toline altar could also represent the twin gods, rather sels. The Lares Augusti were new but also familiar— than the gifts of two particular boys celebrating a rite they were still functioning as Lares Compitales, the of passage to the life of adult citizens.103 Lares at home traditional neighborhood guardians. and at crossroads shrines protected and presided over Continuity is stressed in the Terme altar by the rep- transitions in life for Roman citizens, particularly the resentation of the Roman bride, who, according to tra- putting away of bullae and toys and the wedding day dition, visited a local crossroads shrine on her wedding that marked a woman’s transition from the status of day. This altar provides a rare glimpse of local brides, virgo to that of matrona. whether idealized or perhaps originally understood As has often been noted, much funerary art commis- to represent two specific freedwomen or the freeborn sioned by freedmen celebrates the symbols of citizen daughters of a freedman, each demonstrating her per- status so dear to their identity as Romans, including sonal piety in the context of her new legal and religious particularly a legal marriage, sometimes indicated by status as matrona in her new neighborhood on her a handshake between the husband and wife; the toga wedding day. The painted decoration of the original worn by an adult man; and the bulla around the neck altar would probably have made the brides easily rec- of a freeborn Roman son of citizen parents.104 The ognizable, especially by their bright yellow veils and lares altars grant us access to the self-representation of slippers. This small altar celebrates their citizen status, local freedmen outside the much better documented reflected in legal marriages that promised the produc- funeral sphere. The brides on our small altar appear in tion of heirs who were freeborn Roman citizens, a sta- the wedding attire that marked a woman as a Roman tus often made visible in art works commissioned on citizen herself, the legal wife of a male citizen, and behalf of freedmen. The elaborate and characteristic mother of his future heirs. Indeed, in the Augustan dress of the brides corresponds to the traditional togas period, marriage became an institution mandated for and stolae worn by freed people in funerary reliefs. all citizens by the princeps. Meanwhile, according to These new citizens wanted to look like Romans. The Varro, who lived until 27 B.C.E., Roman brides of any altar might have been dedicated by one or two brides and every social class would visit the local lares at the or by their male relatives who were serving as or had compitum on their wedding day, soon after making an served as vicomagistri. The reference to brides might offering to their new household lar. be to a particular wedding or weddings or it might be a more generalized evocation of bridal customs. Here conclusions legal and social rank is specifically connected to reli- The small Terme altar provides precious evidence gious piety in the newly fashionable Augustan context for the religious and social self-representation of local of the cult of the Lares Augusti at the street-corner people in Rome in the early years of the new cult of the shrines. Meanwhile, lares often protected transitions Lares Augusti. These lares were familiar and personal in life, especially the attainment of adulthood, as made deities who engaged the viewer face-to-face as he or visible within the local community. she made an offering to them on this altar. Their pres- The wedding day itself was not much of a subject ence was celebrated throughout the city at new altars in Roman art, as has been explored in this discussion. erected by vicomagistri, mostly freedmen, at their own This absence might strike us as unusual since our own expense and in the novel medium of Luna marble. popular culture can seem saturated with bridal imag- Most such altars enhanced their local cult while also ery, ranging from the mundane to the extravagant. Elite Romans, however, did not often commemorate their weddings or the marriages their families were built on 103 For lares who are wearing bullae themselves, see the Man- with representations of brides; more commonly, they lius altar (Vatican Museums, inv. no. 9964) with Hano 1986 in represented matronae, women who had attained their ANRW 2.16.3, no. 11; Gradel 2002, 251–60; and Trimalchio’s position in society as a result of a marriage that had al- silver lares (Petron., Sat. 60.8). ready taken place. Consequently, it is all the more im- 104 The art commissioned by freedmen is a large subject. For an introduction, see D’Ambra and Métraux 2006; Petersen portant to note that the two women on the Terme altar 2006. appear to be the only brides carve