1 Earliest Rome

4.12 The household shrine
1. Blue tympanum - with symbols of sacrifice: centre- patera; right — knife; left-ox-skull.
2. Painted figures of Lares, against a white background. They tarry (as often) a drinking
horn {rhytori) and wine-bucket (sttula). See 2.2a.
3. The genius, dressed in a toga, and with veiled head, holds a patera in his right hand and
an incense box in his left - as if offering sacrifice.
4. A serpent - moving rowards offerings of fruit etc. on a small altar (far right). Serpents are
a common motif on iararia, probably symbolizing rhe earrh's fertility, and so the pros­
perity of rhe household.
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