Household Gods. Every Roman had an interest in maintaining the pax deorum, or peace with the gods. For the family, that meant daily attention to the images of its guardian gods, the Lares and Penates, at a small shrine, a lararium. The Lar familias represented the spirit of the family and especially its ancestors. The Lar, therefore, became associated with ghosts, both inside and outside the home. The Penates (from penus, "pantry") were deities who protected the interior of the house. The honoring of the Lares of a region in the city took place at a public festival (the Compitalia) in which people hung up dolls representing each member of the household in the hopes that the spirits would vent any anger at the dolls and not at the human beings. There were also Lares publici or Lares associated with the whole...