The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden: Religion at the Roman Street Corner

Description

The most pervasive gods in ancient Rome had no traditional mythology attached to them, nor was their worship organized by elites. Throughout the Roman world, neighborhood street corners, farm boundaries, and household hearths featured small shrines to the beloved lares, a pair of cheerful little dancing gods. These shrines were maintained primarily

Harriet I. Flower is professor of classics at Princeton University. She is the author of Roman Republics (Princeton), The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political Culture, and Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture. She is also the editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic.

"Winner of a 2018 Charles Goodwin Award of Merit, Society for Classical Studies" "Detailed, absorbing and beautifully illustrated . . . this is a book that demands, and deserves, serious engagement."---T. P. Wiseman, Times Literary Supplement "In The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden: Religion at the Roman Street Corner, Harriet I. Flower displays a formidable grasp of historical detail and a taste for scholarly disputes. Her book is superbly produced and richly illustrated in color with maps and photographs."---Marina Warner, New York Review of Books "Not only will this be an indispensable starting pointfor anyone working on any topic connected with the lares, it also constitutes a valuable model for one highly effective way to study religion in a world without 'religion'."---James B. Rives, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Flower has accomplished a great feat by encapsulating in one invaluable text the many facets of the Lares cults and their relationship with Romans as joyous guardians intended for the benefit of all Roman people."---Candace R. Macintosh, Classical Review "Flower's meticulous investigation of the Roman lares is a formidable undertaking that reveals these gods as the unsung epicentre of Roman religion. . . . Ultimately, then, what emerges from F.'s study is a deeper appreciation of the calculated religious significance of the Augustan brand. "---Heidi Wendt, Journal of Roman Studies "Engagingly written and accessible, this book will appeal to a wide range of scholars and students interested in the nexus of religion, social class, and politics and definitely should be read by all who have an interest in Roman religion."---Lora J. Holland, Religious Studies Review