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PENATES (from Lat. palms, eatables, f...

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 86 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PENATES (from See also:Lat. palms, eatables, See also:food) , See also:Roman gods of the See also:store-See also:room and See also:kitchen. The store-room over which they presided was, in old times, beside the See also:atrium, the room which served as kitchen, parlour, and bedroom in one; but in later times the store-room, was in the back See also:part of the See also:house. It was sanctified by the presence of the Penates, and none but pure and chaste persons might enter it, just as with the See also:Hindus the kitchen is sacred and inviolable. They had no individual names, but were always known under the See also:general designation, Penates. Closely associated with the Penates were the See also:Lares (q.v.) another See also:species of domestic deity, who seem to have been the deified See also:spirits of deceased ancestors. But while each See also:family had two Penates it had but one See also:Lar. In the See also:household See also:shrine the See also:image of the Lar (dressed in a toga) was placedbetween the two images of .the Penates, which were represented as dancing and elevating a drinking-See also:horn in token of joy and plenty. The three images together were sometimes called Penates, sometimes Lares, and either name was used metaphorically for" See also:home." The shrine stood originally in the atrium, but when the See also:hearth and the kitchen were separated from the atrium and removed to the back of the house, and meals were taken in an upper See also:storey, the position of the shrine was also shifted. In the houses at See also:Pompeii it is sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the rooms. In the later See also:empire it was placed behind the house-See also:door, and a See also:taper or See also:lamp was kept burning before it. But the See also:worship in the interior of the house was also kept up even into See also:Christian times; it was forbidden by an See also:ordinance of See also:Theodosius (A.D. 392).

The old Roman used, in See also:

company with his See also:children and slaves, to offer a See also:morning See also:sacrifice and See also:prayer to his household gods. Before meals the blessing of the gods was asked, and after the See also:meal, but before dessert, there was a See also:short silence, and a portion of food was placed on the hearth and burned. If the hearth and the images were not in the eating-room, either the images were brought and put on the table, or before the shrine was placed a table on which were set a See also:salt-cellar, food and a burning lamp. Three days in the See also:month, viz. the Calends, Nones and Ides (i.e. the first, the fifth or seventh, and the thirteenth or fifteenth), were set apart for See also:special family worship, as were also the Caristia (Feb. 22) and the Saturnalia in See also:December. On these days as well as on such occasions as birthdays, marriages, and safe returns from journeys, the images were crowned and offerings made to them of cakes, See also:honey, See also:wine, See also:incense, and sometimes a See also:pig. As each family had its own Penates, so the See also:state, as a collection of families, had its public Penates. Intermediate between the worship of the public and private Penates were probably the See also:rites (sacra) observed by each See also:clan (gens) or collection of families supposed to be descended from a See also:common ancestor. The other towns of See also:Latium had their public Penates as well as See also:Rome. The See also:sanctuary of the whole Latin See also:league was at See also:Lavinium. To these Penates at Lavinium the Roman priests brought yearly offerings, and the Roman consuls, praetors and dictators sacrificed both when they entered on and when they laid down their See also:office. To them, too, the generals sacrificed before departing for their See also:province.

See also:

Alba Longa, the real See also:mother-See also:city of Latium, had also its See also:ancient Penates, and the See also:Romans maintained the worship on the See also:Alban See also:mount See also:long after the destruction of Alba Longa. The Penates had a See also:temple of their own at Rome. It was on the Vella near the See also:Forum, and has by some been identified with the See also:round See also:vestibule of the See also:church of SS. Cosma e Damiano. In this and many other temples the Penates were represented by two images of youths seated holding spears. The Penates were also worshipped in the neighbouring temple at See also:Vesta. To distinguish the two worships it has been supposed that the Penates in the former temple were those of Latium, while those in the temple of Vesta were the Penates proper of Rome. Certainly the worship of the Penates, whose See also:altar was the hearth and to whom the kitchen was sacred, was closely connected with that of Vesta, goddess of the domestic hearth. The origin and nature of the Penates was a subject of much discussion to the Romans themselves. They were traced to the mysterious worship of See also:Samothrace; See also:Dardanus, it was said, took the Penates from Samothrace to See also:Troy, and after the destruction of Troy, See also:Aeneas brought them to See also:Italy and established them at Lavinium. From Lavinium See also:Ascanius carried the worship to Alba Longa, and from Alba Longa it was brought to Rome. Equally unsatisfactory with this See also:attempt to connect Roman See also:religion with See also:Greek See also:legend are the vague and mystic speculations in which the later Romans indulged respecting the. nature of the Penates.

Some said they were the See also:

great gods to whom we owe breath, See also:body and See also:reason, viz. See also:Jupiter representing the See also:middle See also:ether, See also:Juno the lowest See also:air and the See also:earth, and I\linerva the highest ether, to whom some added See also:Mercury as the See also:god of speech (Servius, on Aen. ii. 296; See also:Macrobius, Sat. iii. 4, 8; See also:Arnobius, Adv. Nat. iii. 40). Others identified them with See also:Apollo and See also:Neptune (Macrob. iii. 4, 6; Arnob. loc. cit.; Servius, on Aen. iii. 119). The Etruscans held the Penates to be See also:Ceres, See also:Pales and See also:Fortuna, to whom others added See also:Genius Jovialis (Servius on Aen. ii. 325; Arnob. loc. cit.). The See also:late writer Martianus See also:Capella records the view that See also:heaven was divided into sixteen regions, in the first of which were placed the Penates, along with Jupiter, the Lazes, &c.

More fruitful than these misty speculations is the See also:

suggestion, made by the ancients themselves, that the worship of these family gods sprang from the ancient Roman See also:custom (common to many See also:savage tribes) of burying the dead in the house. But this would See also:account for the worship of the Lares rather than of the Penates. A comparison with other See also:primitive religious beliefs suggests the conjecture that the Penates may be a remnant of See also:fetishism or See also:animism. The Roman genii seem certainly to have been fetishes and the Penates were perhaps originally a species of genii. Thus the Penates, as See also:simple gods of food, are probably much more ancient than deities like Jupiter, Neptune, Apollo and See also:Minerva. With the Penates we may compare the kindly household gods of old See also:Germany; they too had their home on the kitchen hearth and received offerings of food and clothing. In the See also:castle of Hudemuhlen (See also:Hanover) there was a kobold for whom a See also:cover was always set on the table. In See also:Lapland each house had one or more spirits. The souls of the dead are regarded as house-spirits by the Russians; they are represented as dwarfs, and are served with food and drink. Each house in See also:Servia has its See also:patron-See also:saint. In the mountains of See also:Mysore every house has its bhuta or See also:guardian deity, to whom prayer and sacrifices are offered. The See also:Chinese god of the kitchen presents some curious analogies to the Penates: incense and candles are burnt before him on the first and fifteenth of the month; some families See also:burn incense and candles before him daily; and on great festivals, one of which is at the See also:winter See also:solstice (nearly corresponding to the Saturnalia), he is served with cakes, pork, wine, incense, &c., which are placed on a table before him.

See ROMAN RELIGION. (J. G.

End of Article: PENATES (from Lat. palms, eatables, food)

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