LARES, AEDES
(delubra, Ovid):
a temple of the Lares in summa sacra
via (
Solin. i. 23), mentioned first in connection with the prodigies of
106 B.C. (Obseq. 4), and by Cicero (de nat. deor. iii. 63 ; Plin.
NH ii. 16) to
locate the fanum Orbonae. It was restored by Augustus (Mon.
Anc.
iv. 7=Grk. x. I I:
ναὸς ῾Ηρώων πρὸς τῇ ἱερᾷ ὁδῷ, and its day of dedication
was 27th June (Ov.
Fast. vi. 791-792; Fast. Ant. ap.
NS 1921, 99). These
are the only references that belong indisputably to this temple, and they
indicate a site at the top of the Sacra via, that is, near the arch of Titus.
In describing the line of the original pomerium, Tacitus (
Ann. xii. 24)
gives four points, magna Herculis ara, ara Consi, curiae veteres, sacellum
Larum, presumably the four corners of the quadrilateral. Again Ovid,
under date of the kalends of May (
Fast. v. 129, 130), makes this the day of
dedication of an altar of the Lares Praestites :
Praestitibus Maiae Laribus
videre kalendae / aram constitui signaque parva deum. It was thought
that Ovid here and in the passage quoted above might have been referring
to the same shrine, and that May Ist was the festival day of the earlier
temple, while 27th June was that of Augustus' restoration, a fact that the
poet forgot to make plain; but the discovery of Fast. Ant. (which is a
calendar earlier than Caesar) makes this hypothesis impossible. It is also
possible that the sacellum Larum of Tacitus may be the aedes in summa
sacra via, and that for some unknown reason he preferred to mark the
pomerium line at this point rather than at the north-west corner. Further
complication is introduced into the problem by two marble bases with
dedicatory inscriptions-
CIL vi. 456:
Laribus publicis sacrum imp.
Caesar Augustus ex stipe quam populus ei contulit k. lanuar. Apsenti;
vi. 30954: Laribus Aug. sacrum-the first found near the entrance into
the forum from the Farnese gardens about 1555, that is, a little north-west
of the arch of Titus, a point corresponding to summa sacra via; and the
second found in 1879 opposite SS. Cosma e Damiano. Whether either of
these bases belongs to the aedes, or to some of the monuments erected
throughout the city by Augustus (Suet. Aug. 57), has been much disputed.
If the first does belong to the aedes (Richter 161), it is some evidence for
the site of the temple; if not (Mommsen, RGDA 82; HJ 22), it has no
value either way. The second is of no topographical value.
The relationship of these two or three shrines has given rise to much
discussion, but the most probable, although not altogether satisfactory,
explanation is that the aedes restored by Augustus in summa sacra via
had no connection with the sacellum of Tacitus, which was at the north-
west corner of the Palatine and identical with the ara Larum Praestitum
of Ovid (
Jord. i. 2. 420; HJ 22; Richter, Die alteste Wohnstatte des
rom. Volkes 9, 10; Top. 33, 160-161; WR 171; Wissowa, Ges. Abh.
277 ff.;
Rosch. ii. 1871;
Gilb. iii. 424;
BC 1914, 99;
RE xii. 813;
and other literature cited in these references). It has also been conjectured
that the sacellum Larum formed part of the
ATRIUM VESTAE (q.v.).
During recent excavations some ruins were found on the south-west
side of the arch of Titus, which may have belonged to this temple, but
reconstructions have been so extensive at this point that any certainty
seems impossible (
CR 1905, 75-76, 237, 328;
1909, 61;
Mitt. 1905,
118-119;
BPW 1905, 428-429; HC 250; DR 138-142).