Editing Di Penates

{{Short description|Household deities in ancient Roman religion}}
{{Coin image box 1 double
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| image = Image:AR serrate denarius of C. Sulpicius C. f. Galba.jpg
| caption_left = '''[[Obverse and reverse|O:]]''' Two jugate heads of Di Penates Publici
D · P · P
| caption_right = '''[[Obverse and reverse|R:]] '''Soldiers with spears pointing at lying sow
C·[[Sulpicia (gens)|SV(LP)ICI]]·C·F
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| footer =Reverse depicts scene from [[Aeneid]]. According to the prophecy, in the place where a white sow casts 30 piglets under an oak tree, a new city shall be built ([[Lavinium]]); also, a new city called after the white sow shall be built by [[Ascanius]] 30 years later ([[Alba Longa]]).
[[Silver]] serrate [[denarius]] struck by C. [[Sulpicia (gens)|Sulpicius]] C. f. Galba in [[Rome]] 106 BC. 
ref.: Sulpicia 1., Sydenham 572., Crawford 312/1
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[[File:Aeneis 3 147.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Aeneas]] and the Penates, from a 4th-century manuscript]]
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], the '''Di Penates''' ({{IPA|la|ˈdiː pɛˈnaːteːs|lang}}) or '''Penates''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|p|ᵻ|ˈ|n|eɪ|t|iː|z}} {{respell|pin|AY|teez}}) were among the ''dii familiares'', or [[household deity|household deities]], invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 1.730, as cited by Robert Schilling, "The Penates," in ''Roman and European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1981, 1992),  p. 138.</ref> They were thus associated with [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]], the [[Lares]], and the [[Genius (mythology)|Genius]] of the ''[[pater familias]]'' in the "little universe" of the ''[[domus]]''.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''De natura deorum'' 2.60–69, as cited by Jane Chance, ''Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177'' (University Press of Florida, 1994), p. 73.</ref>

Like other domestic deities, the Penates had a public counterpart.<ref>Celia E. Schutz, ''Women's Religious Activity in the [[Roman Republic]]'' (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), p. 123.</ref>

==Function==
An [[etymology|etymological]] interpretation of the Penates would make them in origin [[tutelary deity|tutelary deities]] of the storeroom, [[Latin]] ''penus'', the innermost part of the house, where they guarded the household's food, wine, oil, and other supplies.<ref>Schutz, ''Women's Religious Activity'', p. 123; Sarah Iles Johnston, ''Religions of the Ancient World'' (Harvard University Press, 2004), p. 435; Schilling, "The Penates," p. 138.</ref> As they were originally associated with the source of food, they eventually became a symbol of the continuing life of the family.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morford|first=Mark P.O.|title=Classical Mythology|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780195397703|pages=80–82|edition=Ninth|author2=Lenardon, Robert J. |author3=Sham, Michael }}</ref> [[Cicero]] explained that they "dwell inside, from which they are also called ''penetrales'' by the poets".<ref>[[Cicero]], ''De natura deorum'' 2.68, as cited by Schilling, "The Penates," p. 138.</ref> The 2nd-century AD grammarian [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] defined ''penus'', however, as "the most secret site in the shrine of Vesta, which is surrounded by curtains."<ref>[[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] 296L, as cited by Schilling, "The Penates," p. 138.</ref> [[Macrobius]] reports the theological view of [[Varro]] that "those who dig out truth more diligently have said that the Penates are those through whom we breathe in our inner core ''(penitus)'', through whom we have a body, through whom we possess a rational mind."<ref>''Qui diligentius eruunt veritatem Penates esse dixerunt per quos penitus spiramus, per quos habemus corpus, per quos rationem animi possidemus'': [[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 3.4.8–9, quoting Varro; Sabine MacCormack, ''The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine'' (University of California Press, 1998), p. 77; H. Cancik and H. Cancik-Lindemaier, "The Truth of Images: Cicero and Varro on Image Worship," in ''Representation in Religion: Studies in Honor of Moshe Barasch'' (Brill, 2001), pp. 48–49.</ref>

==Public Penates==
The Penates of Rome (''Penates Publici Populi Romani'') had a temple on the Velia near the [[Palatine Hill|Palatine]]. [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] says it housed statues of two youths in the archaic style.<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'' 1.68.</ref>

The public [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#cultus|cult]] of the ancestral gods of the [[Roman people]] originated in [[Lavinium]],<ref>[[Varro]], ''De lingua latina'' 5.144, says of Lavinium that "this is where our Penates are"; Tim Cornell, ''The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC)'' (Routledge, 1995), p. 66.</ref> where they were also closely linked with [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]]. One tradition identified the public Penates as the sacred objects rescued by [[Aeneas]] from [[Troy]] and carried by him to Italy.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]]'' 3.615; [[Propertius]] 4.1.</ref> They, or perhaps rival duplicates, were eventually housed in the [[Temple of Vesta]] in the [[Roman Forum|Forum]]. Thus, the Penates, unlike the localized Lares, are portable deities.<ref>Johnston, ''Religions of the Ancient World'', p. 435.</ref>

Archaeological evidence from Lavinium shows marked influence from [[archaic Greece|Greece in the archaic period]], and Aeneas was venerated there as [[Jupiter Indiges]].<ref>Cornell, ''The Beginnings of Rome'', pp. 66, 68 and 109; Schutz, ''Women's Religious Activity'', p. 123.</ref> At the New Year on [[Martius (month)|March 1]], [[Roman magistrate]]s first sacrificed to [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Capitoline Jupiter]] at Rome, and then traveled to [[Lavinium]] for sacrifices to Jupiter Indiges and Vesta, and a ceremonial visit to the "Trojan" Penates.<ref>[[Emma Dench]], ''Romulus' Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian'' (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 202; [[Arnaldo Momigliano]], "How to Reconcile Greeks and Trojans," in ''On Pagans, Jews, and Christians'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1987), p. 272.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Hestia]]
*[[Penny Penates]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tutelary deities]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman religion]]
[[Category:Roman deities]]
[[Category:Deities in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Household deities]]