Dii Familiares

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The most characteristic aspect of the traditional Roman religion is the household or family cult of the Dii Familiares. In this cult, the Lar Familiaris (guardian spirit - Genius - of the family), the Lares Loci (guardian spirits of the place where the house is built), the Genius of the pater familias (house-father), the Dii Penates (patron gods of the storeroom), the Dii Manes (spirits of the deceased) and a multitude of other domestic deities are daily worshipped by the members of the family. The household cult is so important that it even serves as the model for several practices of the state cult (e.g. there were the Lares Praestites, Penates Publici) Even during the Empire, the imperial cult came to be based on the household cult, now interpreted as the cult of the Genius of the emperor, pater familias of the family of all the Romans).