Lares
Latin > English (Lewis & Short)
Lăres: (old form ‡ Lăses, Inscr. Fratr. Arval.; cf. Varr. L. L. 6, § 2 Müll.), um and ĭum (Larum, Varr. L. L. 5, § 49 Müll.; Cic. Rep. 5, 5, 7; id. N. D. 3, 25, 63; id. Leg. 2, 8, 19; Inscr. Orell. 961:
I Larium, Liv. 40, 52), m. old Lat. Lases; Etrusc. Laran, Lalan; root las-; cf. lascivus, tutelar deities, Lares, belonging orig. to the Etruscan religion, and worshipped especially as the presiders over and protectors of a particular locality (cf. Otfr. Müll. Etrusc. 2, p. 90 sq.): praestites, the tutelar deities of an entire city, Ov. F. 5, 129 sq.: mille Lares geniumque ducis, qui tradidit illos, urbs habet, id. ib. 5, 145: Puteolanae civitatis, Inscr. Orell. 1670: civitatum, Inscr. ap. Grut. p. 10, 2: vicorum, Arn. 3, 41: rurales, Inscr. ap. Grut. p. 251: compitales, of cross - roads, Suet. Aug. 31; called also Lares compitalicii, Philarg. ad Verg. G. 2, 381: viales, worshipped by the road-side, Plaut. Merc. 5, 2, 24: permarini, tutelar deities of the sea, Liv. 40, 52: caelipotentes, Inscr. ap. Tert. de Spect. 5.—Sing.: Lari viali, Inscr. Orell. 1762; 1894: eundem esse Genium et Larem, multi veteres memoriae prodiderunt, Censor. 3, 2.—
II Most commonly the Lares (as familiares or domestici), the tutelar deities of a house, household gods, domestic Lares (whose images stood on the hearth in a little shrine, aedes, or in a small chapel, lararium); as the tutelar deities of each particular dwelling, also in sing.: Lar, Laris, m.
(a) In plur.: rem divinam facere Laribus familiaribus, Plaut. Rud. 5, 1, 17: sanctis Penatium deorum Larumque familiarium sedibus, Cic. Rep. 5, 5, 7; id. Quint. 27 fin.: ad aedem Larum, id. N. D. 3, 25, 63: immolet aequis porcum Laribus, Hor. S. 2, 3, 164: Laribus tuum Miscet numen, id. C. 4, 5, 34. —
(b) In sing.: ego Lar sum familiaris, ex hac familia, Plaut. Aul. prol. 2: haec imponuntur in foco nostro dari, id. ib. 2, 8, 16: familiae Lar pater, alium Larem persequi, id. Merc. 5, 1, 5 sq.—
B Meton., a hearth, dwelling, home (class.; usually in sing.): larem corona nostrum decorari volo, Plaut. Trin. 1, 2, 1: relinquent larem familiarem suum? Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 11, § 27: ad suum larem familiarem redire, id. ib. 2, 3, 54, § 125: nobis larem familiarem nusquam ullum esse? Sall. C. 20: paternus, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 51: patrius, id. S. 1, 2, 56; cf.: avitus apto Cum lare fundus, id. C. 1, 12, 43: gaudens lare certo, id. Ep. 1, 7, 58: parvo sub lare, id. C. 3, 29, 14: conductus, Mart. 11, 82, 2: deserere larem, to abandon one's home, Ov. F. 1, 478: pelli lare, to be driven from a place, id. ib. 6, 362: alumnus laris Antenorei, i. e. of the city of Padua, Mart. 1, 77, 2: ob eam rem tibi Lare commercioque interdico, Vet. Formul. ap. Paul. Sent. 3, 4, 7.—
(b) In plur., Ov. R. Am. 302: jussa pars mutare lares, Hor. C. S. 39.—Poet., of a bird's nest: avis in ramo tecta laremque parat, Ov. F. 3, 242: cum rapit Halcyones miserae fetumque laremque, Val. Fl. 4, 45.
Lăres: ĭum, f.,
I a city in Numidia, Sall. J. 90 Kritz N. cr.
Latin > French (Gaffiot 2016)
(1) Lăres,¹⁶ v. Lar 1.
(2) Lăres, ĭum, pl., ville de Numidie : Sall. J. 90, 2.
Latin > German (Georges)
(1) Larēs1, Plur. v. Lar, w. s.
(2) Larēs2, Akk. Lares (Laris), Abl. Laribus, f. (Λάρης, Ptol.), eine alte, im jugurthin. Kriege noch bedeutende Stadt in Numidien, noch j. Larbuss od. Lorbus, Sall. Iug. 90, 2. Itin. Anton. 26, 3.
Latin > English
Lares Laris N M :: Lares, household gods, deified spirits of the place
Wikipedia EN
Lares (archaic Lasēs, singular Lar) were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these.
Lares were believed to observe, protect, and influence all that happened within the boundaries of their location or function. The statues of domestic Lares were placed at the table during family meals; their presence, cult, and blessing seem to have been required at all important family events.
Roman writers sometimes identify or conflate them with ancestor-deities, domestic Penates, and the hearth.
Because of these associations, Lares are sometimes categorised as household gods, but some had much broader domains. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities, the state, and its military were all under the protection of their particular Lar or Lares. Those who protected local neighbourhoods (vici) were housed in the crossroad shrines (Compitalia), which served as a focus for the religious, social, and political lives of their local, overwhelmingly plebeian communities. Their cult officials included freedmen and slaves, otherwise excluded by status or property qualifications from most administrative and religious offices.
Compared to Rome's major deities, Lares had limited scope and potency, but archaeological and literary evidence attests to their central role in Roman identity and religious life. By analogy, a homeward-bound Roman could be described as returning ad Larem (to the Lar). Despite official bans on non-Christian cults from the late fourth century AD onwards, unofficial cults to Lares persisted until at least the early fifth century AD.