This chapter is organized into nine interrelated sections. Since the evidence about the lares is so fragmented and disparate, each ancient text or image is examined in its own right. It clears the ground for the discussion by first addressing the debate in the antiquarian sources about the basic nature of lares. It argues against the interpretation of lares as spirits of the deceased and in favor of seeing them as benevolent deities of place and of travel. Moving on from the theoretical classification of these distinctly academic texts, it looks at both literary and epigraphic evidence from the archaic Arval hymn onward. The remainder of the chapter considers which Latin authors refer to twin lares as opposed to a single lar. It also draws together the evidence from painted iconography, written text, and ritual custom to suggest an overall interpretation of the lares and snakes as “gods of place,” who receive gifts and honor from a genius on the Bay of Naples.
