Götter und Lararien aus Augusta Raurica

votive statuettes comes from the provinces outside
Italy. However, it is only in exceptional cases that
public shrines survive with their contents in situ.
Precious votive offerings such as statuettes and tableware
are found in so-called sacred hoards («Sakralhorten»),
that is in caches for safe-keeping in a particular
sacred place or hidden away because of troubled
circumstances. Besides statuettes and vessels, votive
plaques and cult objects can be found here. Often the
votive offerings have inscriptions identifying them as
gifts of individuals. In comparison with the contents of
lararia, the statuettes in sacred hoards show a greater
thematic variety. Native deities and other images
which cannot with certainty be identified appear in
considerable numbers. Apparently in the provinces the
new cult of domestic deities, which was unknown before
Romanisation, was taken over largely unchanged
from Italy, while native representations of gods lived
on in public shrines which sometimes had their origins
in the pre-Roman period.
Translation: Catherine Ait ken and Christoph Maier