Zum zentralen Kult der Laren in Rom seit Augustus

Abstract

In addition to the numerous testimonies of the Augustan cult of the Lares at the compita of the vici of the city of Rome, two larger monuments, the so-called Ara del Belvedere and the so-called Ara dei vicomagistri, are related to the central urban cult of the Lares at the foot of the Palatine Hill. The re-foundation of the central sanctuary and the establishment of the decentralized Compital cults in the years 7 to 4 B.C. by Augustus can be understood as complementary measures in the restructuring of the city of Rome in a reciprocal interaction between the emperor ›from above‹ and the urban Roman population ›from below‹. In this way, and contrary to recent doubts, the involvement of the Genius Augusti as a central factor in the consensus on the emperor’s rule is reestablished in both the urban and the Compital cults.