Flower reverses these priorities, and while giving due coverage to longstanding controversies she is much more interested in the cult’s functioning in day-to-day life. Yet it also reflects the conviction of earlier scholars that the origins of a cult tell us more about its essential nature than its actual functioning in the historical periods to which we have access. This debate results in part from the fact that they received little sustained discussion in the ancient sources, at least those that are extant, presumably because they were such a commonplace and humble part of everyday life. It is clear that they were tutelary deities of the household and the neighborhood, but beyond that there has been much scholarly disagreement about their nature. The lares (singular lar) were distinctively Roman deities whose presence is pervasive in Latin literary texts, who are frequently invoked in inscriptions, and whose small shrines are abundantly preserved at sites such as Pompeii and Delos. But first, an overview of the book’s subject and contents is in order. More helpful in that regard is the subtitle, which, however, raises some interesting issues to which I will return below. The fanciful title, although eye-catching and not inapposite, hardly does justice to the import of this impressive book.
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