. Pompeii : its life and art . esky; only the apse and the wings were roofed. It is evident that we have here a place of worship, yet not,properly speaking, a temple. The shrine in the apse, with itsbroad pedestal for several relatively small images, presents astriking analogy to the shrines of the Lares found in so manyprivate houses. Cities, as well as households, had their guar-dian spirits. The worship of these tutelary divinities was reor-ganized by Augustus, who ordered that, just as the Genius of 104 POMPEII the master of the house was worshipped at the family shrine,so his Genius shoul
. Pompeii : its life and art . esky; only the apse and the wings were roofed. It is evident that we have here a place of worship, yet not,properly speaking, a temple. The shrine in the apse, with itsbroad pedestal for several relatively small images, presents astriking analogy to the shrines of the Lares found in so manyprivate houses. Cities, as well as households, had their guar-dian spirits. The worship of these tutelary divinities was reor-ganized by Augustus, who ordered that, just as the Genius of 104 POMPEII the master of the house was worshipped at the family shrine,so his Genius should receive honor together with the Laresof the different cities; thus in each city the emperor was tobe looked upon as a father, the head of the common house-hold. As the house had its shrine for the Lares, so also hadthe city ; that in Rome was near the spot on which the archof Titus was afterwards erected. Undoubtedly we should recognize in this edifice the sanctuaryof the Lares of the city, Lararium publicum. On the pedestal. Fig. 41. — North side of the sanctuary of the City Lares, restored. of the shrine in the apse the Genius of Augustus probablystood, represented by a statue of the emperor himself, with histoga drawn over the back of his head, offering a libation; onhis right and on his left were the two Lares, like those repre-sented in paintings (p. 228) and in the little bronze images sooften found in house shrines. In connection with the Lares the members of a family hon-ored other gods, Penates, to whose special protection the headof the household had committed himself and his interests. Aswe shall see later, in house shrines diminutive bronze figuresrepresenting Hercules, Mercury, Fortuna, and other divinities THE SANCTUARY OF THE CITY LARES 105 are often found together with those of the Lares. It is quitepossible that other gods were likewise associated with the Laresof the city ; and perhaps here in the two chapels at the sides ofthe main room images of Ceres an
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