Manifestaciones religiosas y espacios sacros en los horrea del occidente del Imperio Romano

Abstract

This paper addresses the study of the religious manifestations and sacred spaces identified in the horrea of the Western Empire. The starting point is the discovery of small shrines or niches inside the warehouses as well as of figurines or representations of the tutelary divinities that protected the cereal and other provisions stored inside these buildings. The horrea were particular building types that needed a special protection, for they faced great dangers such as fires, plagues, grain rotting, or frequent robbery. These conditions posed a great threat to the population because the cereal formed the basis of their diet and its absence caused famine. As a result of that, the protection of granaries and foodstocks was provided not only physically but also by means of pleads to the tutelary divinities of harvest, trade and storerooms. This worship had a remarkable public dimension, as archaeology and written sources attest, but it was also limited to the private sphere because the survival and prosperity of the household depended largely on the good preservation and protection of food.