Short-Term Phenomena and Long-Lasting Places: The Altars of the Lares Augusti and the Compita in the Streets of Ancient Rome

Abstract

The altars of the Lares Augusti, their imagery and spatial contexts, as well as the institution of the Augustan vicomagistri are commonly treated as a homogeneous phenomenon in Roman archaeology. Starting from an adjusted concept of ‘biography of places and objects’, the paper analyses the material evidence along the (multidimensional) line from the setting up of the altars in certain spatial contexts — mostly compital shrines — to the renovations of altars and shrines, to their abolishment. Thus, the assumed homogeneity of the cult of the Lares Augusti in the moment of its reinvention (dating to the last decade of the first century bc) becomes secondary to the highly individual and situational adaptations of altars, inscriptions, and compital shrines including the veneration of the Lares Augusti. Seen in its longue durée in the neighbourhoods, with differences, contingencies, and changes, the institution of the Lares Augusti unfolds as a highly adaptable religious, social, and spatial practice in imperial Rome’s urban environment.