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Introduction
A) Introducing Remarks
The study of ‘identity’ has recently taken a prominent place in many fields of
can be variably interpreted, the term ‘identity’ is not self-explanatory. In this study
political status, religion, associational group, gender, age and a variety of other
Over the past years, research has increasingly focused on previously ignored
domestic settings in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Many scholars,
however, categorically label the houses they study as either ‘Greek’ or ‘Roman’
atrium (a room with a central water basin), no matter where they are located
have been assumed to represent the typical ‘Roman’ house, there are actually
several different house styles within the Roman world (Nevett 2002; Metraux,
1999). The Island of Delos, which had a well attested significant Roman
population, contained not one atrium house, yet it is undisputed that self-identified
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Romans occupied at least some of the houses. Moreover, simply employing ethnic
great detail the subtle relationship between identities and the domestic sphere by
My research will focus on how specific aspects of identities were expressed in the
domestic sphere during the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods of Delos,
Greece (mid 2nd C BCE to 67 BCE.) Unlike most areas of Roman period Greece,
Delos has been the subject of investigation for over a century and is consequently
quite well published. Excavation publications began in the late 19th century when
French excavators first turned their attention to Delos resulting in a very large
who have devoted significant attention to Delos. These publications have tended to
1993), however, there has been an overall increase over time in the re-examination
(Bonini 2006; Hasenohr 2002; Kreeb 1988; Tang 2005, Trumper 1998, 2004,
2007). No one has yet written a monograph exclusively focusing on the expression
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of identities within the domestic sphere. A few early and even more recent studies
little to elucidate the nature of the relationship between expression of identity and
Excavations at Delos are subject to the same provisos which necessarily apply to
all archaeological sites excavated in the late 19th, early 20th centuries; that is a lack
Since this problem exists for almost all previously excavated archaeological sites,
quantity and quality of data. Overall, regardless of its pitfalls, Delos provides a
rich and varied setting for the investigation of identity in domestic space, and the
previous scholarship on the island provides an excellent platform for such a study
as mine.
B) History of Delos
The history of the occupation of Delos is divided into several periods, two
of which are relevant to this study. The island’s period of independence spans
from 314 to 167/166 BCE after which begins the period called the Second
Athenian Domination which lasts until 69BCE. In 167/166 BCE, at the end of the
Third Macedonian War Rome awarded the island of Delos to Athens, expelled the
Delians, set up an Athenian cleruchy and established the island as a free port
(Tang 2005:14). During the course of the Mithridatic war in the 1st C BCE, Delos
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was sacked twice, first by the army of Mithridates in 88 BCE, and then in 69 BCE
although limited habitation persists on parts of the island for some short time
The housing districts of Delos are divided into eight quarters: The Northern
Quarter (also known as the Skardana Quarter), the Inopos Quarter, the Peribolos
Quarter, the Aprhrodision Quarter, the Stadium Quarter, the Theatre Quarter, the
House of the Masks’ Quarter and the Southern Quarter. Information about the
habitation of the island before 167 BCE is not well documented but it seems that
the areas north and south of the sanctuary of Apollo, the area of the Agora of the
Compitaliastai and parts of the Theatre district and Northern Quarter may have
been inhabited as far back as the 4th or 3rd C BCE (Tang 2005: 30). The majority of
the residential areas were established from the middle of the 2nd to the early 1st C
BCE and developed “fan-like” around the sanctuary of Apollo (Tang 2005:
cultural groups inhabiting the island, for instance a small Jewish contingent in the
domestic space such a lucrative venture. Since the island was clearly not inhabited
political and economic backgrounds, one would expect the material expressions of
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remainder of this section I will outline the research questions I will pose and an
and ritual identities and its relation to expressions of other material expressions of
identity. I will focus on the following questions: What objects, such as altars,
ritual identity, manifest themselves in domestic settings? If so, are there any
visible patterns in their presence? Are other facets of identity such as ethnicity,
space and do these form patterns with material expressions of ritual or religious
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approach this study in five broad sections. In the first section I will provide a
Roman domestic archaeology, then more specifically, in terms of past and current
trends in the research of Roman period Greek housing and Delos in specific. I will
then discuss the areas of research that still remain to be addressed in Greek
domestic archaeology and place my research within the broader academic context
explained previously.
contextualize my study. In the third section I will present the materials and data I
will use for my study and I will provide a step by step outline of the
methodological approaches I will take in the analysis of this data. Section four
I will then apply the statistical analyses outlined in section three and will provide
In the final section of my study I will give a detailed discussion of the results of
implications the results of my study have for the study of identity and domestic
space as well as for the use of terminology of architectural features, spaces and
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of the subjects chosen for study and the approaches taken by the investigators.
obsession with temples, palaces and other grand public edifices, gold, coins or
other aesthetically pleasing artefacts. In this section I will give a synopsis of the
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conclude this section by explaining how my research fits into the contemporary
academic context.
1994, 34). Despite this tendency to ignore the majority of Greek domestic spaces
there was still a remarkable number of wealthy ‘elite’ houses excavated in Greece.
Excavations at this time tended to focus almost solely on Bronze Age ‘Homeric’
palaces, and houses of the Classical and Hellenistic periods were neglected with
(Nevett, 2005, 1). Bertha Carr Rider’s The Greek House (1916) reflects the
contains almost 200 pages dedicated to Bronze Age houses in comparison to the
scanty 29 pages dealing with all other time periods combined. Furthermore, her
‘imaginary Greek house’ was not based on a single example yielded from
8). Early excavations on the Greek Island of Delos are a good example of this.
Despite the excellent state of preservation of the domestic structures, there was
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incomplete data set heavily biased towards elite housing of the Bronze Age and
excavate more domestic sites and describe in detail the architectural, if not often
Publication, however, could not keep pace with excavation and it seems very
likely that the three artefacts recorded per room –on average- in the later years of
the excavation did not represent complete assemblages (Ault and Nevett, 1999,
46; Nevett, 2005, 2-3). For the most part, the archaeological studies in the mid to
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rooms surrounding an open court of various kinds: the well-known pastas, prostas
and peristyle courtyard types (Nevett, 2005, 3). Studies during this period often
time (Nevett, 2001, 21-2). There was a common trend amongst scholars to assume
from more communally oriented structures with little internal divisions via houses
of wealth centered around a peristyle courtyard (Tang, 2005, 19; Nevett, 2007).
with changes in housing form which in turn reflects broader societal changes.
This evolutionary approach to houses began to fall out of favour in the late
1900’s, however, making way for new ways of looking at domestic architecture.
architectural remains (for example Kent, 1990; Jameson, 1990a, 1990b; Nevett,
topics as gender, social status, and public and private space (Jameson, 1990b; Ault
and Nevett, 1999, 2005; Cahill, 2002; Trümper, 1998; Walter-Karydi, 1998).
During this time period, archaeologists came to realize that studying society from
the perspective of households and the space they use and occupy was a valuable
tool to gain insight in societal economy and social organization. This new insight
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of communities. Although scholars of this time explored topics too varied to list
exhaustively, a few examples of the types of domestic studies shows how this
space. Average house size, for instance, was sometimes used to calculate average
family size and subsequently the total population of a site, whereas previously
house plans were analyzed mainly for typological classification (Allison, 1999, 1).
Several Greek archaeologists at this time were involved in the now notorious
not the gynaikonitis, female only quarters mentioned in literary records, reflected
the reality of the use of space (Pomeroy, 1997; Nevett, 1994, 2005). Another good
Griechenland (1994 [1986]) which interpreted house and city plans within a
important to note that despite their study’s modern criticism, the work of
Hoepfner and Schwandner was one of the first studies to attempt to link domestic
architecture to its broader socio-cultural context (Nevett, 2005, 3-4).For the most
part, domestic analyses at this time tended to investigate one or two aspects of
identity in relative isolation, most often gender and socio-economic status. All
too often they did not consider other intersecting and influencing aspects such as
age, ethnicity, occupation, and individuality or agency. This period was, however,
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theoretical frameworks for domestic studies in the Greek world, upon which
The late 1990s and 2000s saw an explosion of domestic archaeological studies
focusing on a larger range of topics than ever before, ranging from art historical
between the household and the wider community, studies of dining, domestic
production, to name a few (Alabe, 1995; Antonaccio, 2000; Ault, 2000; Ault and
Nevett, 1999, 2005; Hendon, 2007; Nevett, 2002, 2007; Westgate, 2007). This
was partially due to the incorporation of domestic artefacts into the analyses of
domestic spaces. Scholars during this time began to look at available artefact
assemblages as a means through which they could analyze the daily life of the
literary and epigraphic sources in the analysis of domestic space returned resulting
more contextualized framework than scholars had ever previously employed. This
the sample sizes Roman archaeology was given a degree of prominence not seen
in the Greek world. This is partially due to the early discovery and excavation of
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Herculaneum in the 1730s (Dyson, 1993, 15). Since the habit of excavators at that
time was to mine and collect valuable objects, there was no contextual recording
not even provenanced to a specific house, let alone room (Dyson, 1993, 16-8).
Pompeii and Herculaneum represent some of the more detailed and organized
As in Greek archaeology, Roman studies from the mid twentieth century began to
explore housing in other areas of Italy and the wider Roman Empire which was
extremely crucial for the realization that Roman housing was far from
standardized and regular, but was rather marked by variation above all (McKay,
1975; Smith, 1997). Throughout the mid to late twentieth century, the number of
Roman period Britain was especially influential in proliferating the view that
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Roman housing was not standardized, especially since several housing types
identified in Britain were entirely different from the Campanian cannons (McKay,
Studies took place in other Roman provinces as well, and several scholars in the
mid to late twentieth century, such as Alexander G. McKay (1975) and Simon P.
Investigations at this type favoured some provinces over others, such as Roman
knowledge while other provinces were virtually ignored. Although often this was
informative value. A good example of this comes from the not-so-distant past
where J.T Smith stated in the introduction to his ‘empire-wide study’ of Roman
villas that he felt the investigation of Roman period Greek housing was not useful
and did not add any significant information to the theme of Roman housing
(Smith, 1997, 3). Despite the continued tendency for scholars to value certain
areas and types of evidence, Roman domestic archaeologists at this time begin to
at this time dealing with art in the domestic sphere throughout the Roman world,
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statuses and relationships around the house and signal the owner’s place within
the social hierarchy (Wallace-Hadrill, 1988, 1994). Further steps were made by
Penelope Allison in her study of the Insula of the Menander (2004). Allison
particular set of Campanian houses resulting in the conclusion that the assemblage
patterns did not match the functions ascribed to room types by literary sources
(Allison, 2004). Studies such as those mentioned above contributed to the current
Very recently scholars have turned their interest to Roman period Greek domestic
namely the casa di Sp. Stertinus, Casa di Q. Tullius, and the House of Hermes.
His investigation, however, was limited to a short section of comparison with his
main topic of focus, Pompeii. Another Italian archaeologist Paolo Bonini (2006)
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includes descriptions, plans, dimensions and other details where available for
housing in some sixty towns and cities. Studies such as these are paving the way
towards the recognition of the potential of Roman period housing in Greece. They
have either entirely destroyed Roman occupation levels or only briefly mentioned
whether there were any detectable changes in the use of space and gender
relations between Classical, Hellenistic and Roman period houses (1999, 2002).
Nevett (1999, 2002) noticed that changes in the architecture translated to changes
in circulation patterns which may suggest that there was less desire or need to
monitor the movements of household members. Furthermore, she noted that more
attention was paid to the provision of space for entertaining and dining than for
domestic activities and chores (Nevett, 1999, 107-8). What she was not able to
determine with any certainty was whether the differences seen between the
Roman period houses and Classical and Hellenistic houses reflected new
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articulations such as atria and impluvia alone could identify a house as occupied
by Romans rather than Greeks and because it was not within the scope of her
study, she did not engage in detailed questioning of the problematic association
between architectural forms and identities. Despite some of the drawbacks of the
previous studies, they nevertheless represent some of the first important steps
towards remedying the lack of attention paid to domestic space in this time period
in Greek history. One area of Greece that scholars have, on the other hand, studied
context of the excavated material and the extent of the data available to an
in 1883 Paris excavated the first houses (Tang, 2005, 29). Large scale excavations
of the houses Theatre Quarter followed from 1892 to 1894 and 1904 to 1907
(Tang, 2005, 29; Chamonard, 1922, 1, 11). Chamonard’s 1922 and 1924
publications on the Theatre Quarter represent one of the best EAD publications in
presents a few major difficulties for modern scholars. The first volume provides
descriptions of the ground plans and architectural articulation. The data dealing
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techniques and materials, water supply, wall and floor decoration, on the other
hand appears over Parts II and III in which the focus is placed on trends within the
Quarter as a whole and not on the individual houses. Unfortunately this resulted in
This has the added result of making catalogue production even more difficult for
the modern scholar since the catalogues are doomed to inconsistency from the
start. After World War II excavations were carried out mostly in the Northern
Quarter, in addition to the large houses of the Maison de l’Hermes and the Maison
de Fourni (Tang, 2005, 29), all of which were published in various volumes of
houses were for the most part published in different volumes in the traditional
‘Small Finds’, ‘Relief Pottery (molded ware)’, ‘Mosaics’, ‘Wall Paintings’ and so
details of artifact provenance. Moreover, data from excavations after the time of
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inconsistent publication documents. Phillipe Bruneau and J. Ducat made the first
contextualize the Quarters of the Island in terms of their chronology and building
phases. In 1988 M. Kreeb analyzed the sculptural finds, floor and wall decorations
contained a detailed analysis of four houses from Delos with a focus on the
houses and, unlike most previous studies, paid particular attention to the building
phases and occupational histories of each house. Trümper focused her attention,
identification of what she labeled the kanonische Normalhaus, which can best be
habitation.
broad and did not identify or focus on specific aspects of identity expression,
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Tang’s study provides a valuable example of how these sites, despite the
domestic space and identities. The monumental effort invested in the studies
Compitales
Throughout the above mentioned studies several scholars have noted that Delian
houses possess a unique and prevalent feature. In terms of Greek and Roman
altars and religious/ritual paintings and artefacts, it has been noticed that Delos
shrines. At Delos, several scholars have focused on the presence of these shrines,
evolution, significance and use of these shrines. In addition, attempts have been
made to identify the ethnic or social identities of the inhabitants of the domestic
settings where these shrines are present, however, these have been limited to
iconographic elements and literary references. As yet, no one has questioned how
these shrines may function as expressions of identities, how they may have been
used as a tool for conscious and unconscious identity negotiation, how they may
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status, occupation, gender, age and other group memberships, nor how these
expressions of identities are influenced and in turn influence the values, norms
and ideals of the social context of Delos and the wider Greco-Roman world at this
period of time.
the domestic space are related to specific architectural forms, decorations, artefact
cultural interaction, individual agency, and wider societies’ values and norms
there is a need to problematize the study of the Lares Compitales shrines in order
to gain a better understanding of how inhabitants of the late Hellenistic and early
Roman period Delos chose to express their religious identities and how these
The following sections of this study will provide the contextual information
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through radical changes through its history in terms of foci. Although a lack of
characterized the early years of archaeology in the Greek and Roman worlds by,
scholars increasingly began to look to the household as the most basic social unit
In fact, changes in theoretical frameworks over time were both the result of, and
cause of, new studies. As more scholars turned to investigate domestic space,
new approaches and theories were applied to the analysis of households. Other
archaeology exists, not as one coherent, monolithic and static method for
investigating the material record, but rather represents a myriad of approaches and
The theoretical frameworks and assumptions under which this study will operate
are the product of the cumulative efforts of scholars throughout the disciplines of
both Classical and Anthropological archaeology. It is for this reason that I have
found it most appropriate to present this history in two sections because this study
focuses on identities expressed through material objects. I will first present the
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and Roman archaeology which resulted in the theories on identity I will use.
archaeology, or ‘the new archaeology’, came to the forefront. It was within this
studies were often conducted under the assumption that there was a one-to-one
relationship between house floor assemblages and the activities performed there
the use of space in domestic settings (LaMotta and Schiffer, 1999, 19). In the mid
that other factors, such cultural and non-cultural formation processes contribute to
the creation of house floor assemblages (LaMotta and Schiffer, 1999, 19). The
nature of the domestic archaeological record, and the realization that this record
1999, 19).
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beginning in the 1970s and 1980s which represented a large variety of theoretical
they wanted to ask of the material record questions (Johnson, 2006, 98-101).
and important to ask questions concerning the thoughts, ideals, values, beliefs,
symbols as they are represented in the material record but which the processual
One of the most important post-processual theoretical developments for this study
was the recognition that it is at the household level that “social groups articulate
directly with economic and ecological processes” (Wilk and Rathje, 1982 in
Allison, 1999, 2). In other words, households are recognized as the main domain
in which social productive strategies (i.e. “the various strategies that household
heads utilize to achieve and maintain desired social statuses for themselves and
(Blanton, 1994, 19-20). This development was followed by the realization that
both material objects and architecture are the product of social action (Wilk and
Rathje, 1982, 618). That is, the built environment and material remains of a
culture are the result of intentional and purposeful action which has the ability to
influence or impact the actions of others. Material objects are now also
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themselves exert selective pressure on social action (Allison, 1999, 7). These two
between human agency and the built environment; while the built environment is
created by the social action of individuals and groups, the forms of this
domestic structures are not a homogeneous group (Allison, 1999, 4, 7). While it is
likely that some buildings were built by the occupants, frequently people would
represent an earlier period or even other social or cultural groups (Allison, 1999,
consider in the interpretation of any domestic space and one which will be
domestic space is the understanding of the influence that household life cycles can
have on a dwelling’s use. As household members age, die, are born or move out,
space that was used for one purpose can come to serve an entirely different
12).
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archaeologists (for example see the approaches taken by Allison, 1999; Tang,
2005. Attention has returned to the need for systematic, processual analysis of
data. Fortunately, there is now the realization that using processual methodology
for the analysis of data does not necessarily exclude the use of ‘post-processual’
theories and methodologies as well (Allison, 1999, Tang, 2005). In fact, one of
the most recent important developments in Classical archaeology for this study
has been the realization that in order to ‘get the most’ out of the poorly
as many lines of evidence and forms of analysis as possible in order to get the
most accurate and reflective picture of these past dwellings and the lives of the
The argument could be made that identity studies have been present in
Classical archaeology from its very inception. Scholars have often placed
has been a very prevalent topic in Greek and Roman archaeology for decades. In
Greek archaeology, this topic has focused around questions such as whether or not
there were separate areas of the house for men and women and whether or not
women were segregated from the rest of the household. This topic, unsurprisingly,
began from the literary record, particularly Lysias 1.9.3, which states that women
had separate quarters, the gunaikonitis, and that men had a special room, the
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andron, with specialized architectural articulation designed for the male drinking
parties, the symposia (Goldberg, 1999, 142-3). Because the andron was
characterized by a room with cement floors with raised platforms for couches on
three sides and an off-centre door, which were confirmed to have existed through
some excavations, it was assumed for a long time in scholarship that there was
Some scholars went as far as to read gendered space by assuming that rooms
private and segregated rooms were ‘female’ space and more public, open rooms
were ‘male space’ (Nevett, 2007, 213). Recent re-examinations of the spatial
layout of houses, however, have shown that it is more likely that female activities
were monitored and controlled but not physically segregated (Jameson, 1990a;
Nevett, 1999, 2005; Ault and Nevett, 2005; Laurence, 1999). Furthermore,
evidence from newer excavations has shown that rooms in houses often had had a
multiplicity of functions and were not designed or used for a single purpose alone
(Goldberg, 1999: 150, Tang, 2005: 19). Furthermore, many houses do not have
this room was always present (Laurence, 1999, 142-3; Nevett, 2005).
andron when needed (Laurence, 1999, 142-3). Moreover, when these architectural
features are identified it is entirely likely that these spaces were used for another
purpose when there was not a symposium being held (Laurence, 1999, 142-3).
Although gender was a popular topic, other aspects of identity were also studied
Anthropology and Classical Archaeologists soon adapted them for their purposes.
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domestic space. Wallace-Hadrill stated that Roman social status is thought to have
been related to the head of the household’s standing, which determined how far
non-household members were allowed to penetrate the house (Grahame, 1999, 48;
Wallace-Hadrill, 1994). Inhabitant decorated the spaces within the house to act as
a sort of ‘sign system’ which signalled the social status of the paterfamilias and
served to lead different types of visitors on the appropriate paths through the
house (Grahame, 1999, 48-9; Wallace-Hadrill, 1994). Although this study and
those like it represent important steps in the right direction, it is unclear and
untested whether or not particular motifs and styles of decoration can be identified
archaeology is ethnic identity. In the Greek world, this type of study is best
Greek cultural and ethnic identity (2002, 2008). Although Hall did not focus
which will be used in this study. Hall states that the reason that previous studies
had proved unsuccessful was the lack of recognition that cultural and ethnic
rather is “socially constructed and subjectively perceived” (my italics, Hall, 2002,
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19-20). The criteria for ethnic or cultural boundaries, Hall states, are determined
by a set of socially constructed attributes defined by the group itself which are the
distinguishes these culturally defined and subjectively perceived criteria from the
indicia, which may or may not be physical, and represent the attributes which tend
these indicia are not easily identifiably as being ethnically or culturally significant
‘Greek’ to a foreigner (Hall, 2002, 21-2; 2007, 338-40). Because ‘Greek’ ethnic
identities at the ‘national’ level were partially based on common language, shared
religious and cultic practices and the inhabitation of the land called Hellas, and at
the local level was based on community affiliation, it may be extremely difficult
several problematic associations made in past studies as well points out the unique
detailed consideration.
Numerous studies have also been conducted investigating the nature of Roman
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architectural forms into domestic space was the result of a culturally defined
housing form which emphasized wealth and status where the elite incorporated
public forms into the elaboration of their domestic space (Laurence, 1998, 7;
Grahame, 1998, 162-65; 171-174). In this sense Grahame states that the use of
architectural forms in Italian Roman culture was created for the communication of
social identity and thereby included into both the criteria and indicia of
Many studies in the archaeology of identities within the Roman world have
focused on points of contact between two or more distinct cultural groups, for
centered in Roman period Britain and North Africa and consequently many of the
accompanied these studies. At first it was assumed that wherever the Romans
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went they ‘Romanized’ local populations, that it, they made them more ‘Roman’
These scholars of often assumed that there were recognizable “coherent and
monolithic cultural units (or peoples)” (Hingley, 2005, 31). Furthermore they
with the starting point at barbarism or savagery and the end result at ‘civilization’,
supposed innate superiority of some cultures over others (Hingley, 2005, 19-22).
This is not surprising, however, since studies of the past are as equally influenced
by the present political, economic and academic contexts as they are by the past
uniform, wherein the superior culture of the Romans ‘civilized’ the barbarian
others. (Hingley, 2005, 34). Over the past forty years, however, the increasing
globalization of the world led to the recognition that individuals possess agency in
their everyday lives (Hingley, 2005, 37; Woolf, 1998, 111). At the same time the
rejection of the centrality of the West and the development of the idea of cultural
relativism resulted in scholars who approached their subjects with a greater degree
2005, 37).
It is now generally agreed that there was a degree of individual agency involved
in the adoption of Roman material culture and symbolism, and that this adoption
did not mean that one became Roman and ceased to be what they were previously.
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identity to serve their changing purposes and desires (Hingley, 2005, 47-8; Woolf,
1998, 111). Rather, scholars now suggest that local populations willingly adopted
aspects of Roman culture because it enabled them to “negotiate their own power
in the ‘Romanization’ of Britain such as these have been an important step in the
any aspect of identity now operate under the assumption that ‘identity’ is not a
other and yet can be consciously manipulated according to the different needs of
Lately there has been further reaction against the unproblematic ascription
a priori assumption that there ever existed a static, uniform, monolithic Roman
conducted on the local level (Grahame, 1998, 175-6). Following this advice I
inhabitants. Instead I suggest that it would be far more productive to look at what
about what aspects of identity inhabitants chose to express and present in their
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culture on Roman cultural identity. At the same time the Roman occupation of
period domestic remains are plentiful in some areas of Greece, although not
relation between house form, use of space and identities. Identity studies
(e.g. Papaioannou, 2007), or on the extent to which the Greek landscape reflected
both influence from and resistance to Roman domination (e.g. Alcock, 1996,
1998).
maintenance. Pierre Bourdieu was first to address this topic in the form of what
habits, dispositions or orientations, which have social weight and which, through
their repeated action, reinforce their social significance (Hodder, 1992, 34).
go from the material to the social. For the purposes of this study, the most
important part of this theory is the idea that the material remains of domestic
spaces are not simply objects used by household members. Rather, they are one of
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the means through which identities can be formed and maintained through the
process of learning about their use and meaning as well as the constant
reproduction of the activity associated with that object. As an example a loom can
be seen as functional tool for the production of household cloths, and as a means
through which a traditional, socially accepted and valued female activity and
aspect of identity is introduced and reinforced. Through the use of the loom, a
affirmation of female domestic identity associated with both the object and their
accepted and valued role within society. In simpler terms, identities are self-
Despite the fact that it is now generally accepted that identity is not a
archaeology to focus on one or two variables, most often gender and social status.
What is currently essential in identity studies within Greek and Roman domestic
archaeology is to consider both the multiple and complex factors which may
social, economic and political status, age and occupation, as well as the broader
socio-cultural context within which the house was built, manipulated and used.
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I intent to utilize these theoretical perspectives. First of all I will make use of the
habitually performed and socially weighed action. In addition I will analyze these
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The most logical place to begin a discussion of the materials and methods used in
this study is the selection of materials used in the production of my data set. The
state of preservation and variety of evidence. Public buildings are plentiful and
varied, but it is the domestic quarters of the island that are truly remarkable,
rivaling Pompeii in their remains, often preserving second storeys. However, also
like Pompeii, Delos was excavated with diverse methods and disparately
synthetic study of all remains. Despite the difficulties, the sheer amount of
which I fully advocate. The following description of the materials and methods I
have used for my analysis, therefore, will follow the exact process I took in
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I began this project by creating a database in a simple excel file of variables from
the domestic structures on Delos. At this time I kept a very broad focus, searching
for no specific artefact, feature, house type et cetera, but rather including all
identified as houses. At this stage I did not discriminate between fully and
partially excavated structures, however, I did note the extent of the excavations
for each house. The database is organized as follows: On the vertical axis I
Quarter. On the horizontal axis I created separate fields for a large number of
variables. The first field identifies the names of the houses as labeled by the
excavators and scholars. The second field records the house size in meters squared
and the third describes the general floor plan of the house including shape,
regularity and number of rooms. The fourth field identifies the orientation of the
building and the fifth field describes the circulation space around which other
courtyards with covered porticoes and peristyles. The sixth field records the
field I also recorded the presence of pillars and columns made from materials such
as granite and stuccoed poros. The next two fields record the number of entrances
into the building and the presence of second floors. The ninth field records the
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number of rooms with wall painting on the main floor and the tenth identifies
whether or not there is evidence for wall painting on upper storeys. The following
two fields do the same with floor treatments, and differentiate between mosaics
chip and mortar pavements. The next section identifies the type of water works
present, namely the presence of wells, cisterns and drainage systems. The
remaining fields are occupied with counts of specific types of artefacts and
features, beginning with portraits, sculpture, figurines, bronze items, Lares shrines
outside the house, religious altars within the house, reliefs, herms, incense
burners, ovens, stoves and hearths, mills, mortars, measurement devices, tanks,
and religious identity I must explain how the chosen fields relate to material
expressions of identities. Some of the fields are more self-explanatory than others.
For example I am not taking a huge hermeneutic leap by suggesting that altars and
identity, that is, these objects have a direct material link to the religious and ritual
habitus of those who used them. However, there are other, less apparent
associations that can be made as well. For example, perhaps the material used in
architecture, features and objects could suggest something about economic status
and social status. For example, shrines were sometimes made of monolithic
marble pieces while others were made of rubble and covered with stucco
attempting to mimic marble, as is often done with peristyle columns. Although the
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made to replicate the more expensive, and likely prestigious, material. The
of the material expressions of those who share the same self-perceived identity.
Following this example, it is possible to use variables such as house size, building
materials, floor and wall treatments, sculpture, portraits and so on to analyze the
entrances, presence of industrial objects such as tanks and presses, as well as other
features and objects like ovens, stoves, and tables can be used to help illuminate
possible room function and use of domestic space. My main goal in creating these
The sources of information I used for the creation of my database began with
consulting Monika Trümper and Birgit Tang’s catalogues. After this I moved to
the original publication sources and subsequent studies to confirm or add to the
information presented by Trümper and Tang (see bibliography for EAD and BCH
sources). It should be stated here that the original excavators favoured the
missing from the original publications, but also often the actual presence. When
excavators to be valuable in one way or another. This selection process was not
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systematic or even explicit, but rather was at the discretion of the individual
worth recording to the original excavators is now what would be most valuable to
analysis. The result of this type of selection process is both an incomplete and
delving into the specifics of my data set, to first explain what criteria I employed
for the recording of material provenance, and to explain the reasons for selecting
architecture and features of the houses, except in cases where excavation was
Trümper and Tang with the original publications. One notable exception is the
presence of marble architecture. Bridgit Tang did not record the materials used in
for this omission, but went further to give incredibly detailed information about
the buildings (house size, ground plan and circulation space) with a very high
confidence level. This is also the case for specific features of buildings, most
built-in shrines. This was not the case, however, with the remaining variable fields
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sculptures and portraits. Birgit Tang recorded the same and added the presence of
figurines, and some other miscellaneous ‘religious’ items such as reliefs. Birgit
Tang presented this data, however, nominally and often included no more than
counts, although in some cases she did give the inventory number for the artefact.
For these fields (sculpture, portraits and figurines) I consulted Marten Kreeb’s
Kreeb’s catalogue describes the artefacts in terms of their size, material, inventory
number and provenance (although this is often limited to the building level). Upon
analysis, there was a great deal of discrepancies in the field of figurines between
decided to use Kreeb’s catalogue for the three fields of portraits, sculpture and
figurines since the level of detail was greater and accountability was stronger
since the inventory numbers were provided. Although I did depend on Kreeb’s
catalogue for these fields I also consulted the original publications which also
confirmed that his catalogue was more dependable. The excavation publications,
Kreeb. In the volume on the Terracotta Figurines (EAD 18), there were a number
House X’. This situation occurs in the EAD volume on the small/mobile finds
(EAD 14), which was the primary source I used for my database fields of reliefs,
olive presses, wine presses and tables. Because of the different levels of
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level or higher. I did, however, create separate lists of objects when the
which I attempted to identify which house these descriptions referred to. There
were only a few cases where I could (with an acceptable level of confidence)
excavators meant the house nearest in the direction of the reference house. This is
somewhat risky, since I cannot determine with absolute certainty whether this was
the actual intention of those recording the provenance, however, I feel it is a risk
worth taking. Far too many studies disregard data such as this exactly because it is
for a more complete sample which attempts to take into account objects
maintained a separation of the objects recorded for the above nine cases.
Before moving on to the results of my data collection, I must first mention a few
object types which need further consideration. Firstly, I have not recorded the
2 Only Building to the South or South-East of the Theatre
3 Part of same building, division of space into two separate units.
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different volumes that at least fragments of these objects were found in every
house on the island. While this may not exactly be true, they were prevalent
enough that they were not recorded except for in certain circumstances, such as
during the initial discovery of a new “Delian” type and when intact specimens
were recovered. Because of this I am operating under the assumption that this was
the primary means of meal preparation and possibly also heating on the island of
Delos, and thus have recorded only when alternatives to this medium are found
(namely hearths and built-in stoves and ovens). Similarly, basins were found in
nearly every house and accordingly I am working under the assumption that all
households would need some means of transporting and storing water from
cisterns and wells for daily use. I am therefore assuming that basins of varied
materials would serve this function, as was commonly the case during most
The final class of objects that require some additional discussion are religious and
Delian domestic space is the presence of altars outside of houses house to one or
both sides of an entrance. These altars are built of varying materials from
monolithic marble to stuccoed masonry and most often painted with a variety of
scenes which are agreed to be ritual or religious in nature. The most prevalent and
and two figures identified from the corpus of Roman iconography as the Lares.
Other motifs include boxing scenes, garlands, snakes, various scenes of offerings,
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musicians, and deities such as Herakles and Pan/Satyr type figures. Paintings and
niches on the walls above these altars are also a common occurrence and represent
the same general spectrum of motifs. These I will refer to as ‘Lares Shrines’ or
‘Lares Compitales Shrines’ and will discuss them further in my results and
discussion sections.
Lares Shrines are to be distinguished from ‘altars’, which is the term I will
employ for all other altars, with or without decoration, that are found within the
confines of the domestic space, whether built in or portable. These altars take on a
variety of forms including quadrangular, cylindrical and other, and may be made
from a variety of materials, marble and rubble masonry being the most common.
A complicating issue arises with altars because there is some evidence to suggest
that altars may be re-used as building material and may serve secondary functions
aside from ritual. In a few cases there are cylindrical altars decorated with
garlands and bucranes which were re-used as well-heads for cisterns. For the most
part, however, it is obvious when these altars are being re-used since they have
been clearly altered for these secondary uses (these cases have been recorded in
my catalogue).
The final religious/ritual objects to be addressed are reliefs, herms and incense
burners. Only certain types of reliefs can be attributed as ritual items with any
elsewhere in both the Greek and Roman worlds. The reliefs that I determined
were potentially religiously or ritually significant are divided into three broad
categories for later analysis. The first type can be described as ‘event reliefs’ and
represent scenes such as banquets, rituals, and sacrifices. The second category
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contains or objects such as phalloi, piloi, clubs, omphaloi, and so on, while the
last category consists of reliefs of deities. There is little certainty, however, about
the function and use of reliefs such as these. For example, it has been noted that
phallic symbols may be a sort of apotropaic object, meant to ward off potential
harm or danger, or they may represent sign posts for brothels or they may be
reliefs mentioned above and because of this, reliefs on their own will not be taken
of artefacts, features and architectural elements, if any, they are associated with.
Like reliefs, herms may be interpreted in a variety of ways. They are found in
both Greek and Roman contexts and therefore cannot be used as indicia of ethnic
not suggest anything about the ritual or religious identities of inhabitants. Herms
are still of value to this study since, as mentioned above, the presence of sculpture
and/or use of marble may be looked at for its value in terms of expressions and
displays of wealth and aesthetic values. I will not, therefore, analyze herms as an
expression of religious or ritual identity, but rather will incorporate them into the
Incense burners are not a frequent occurrence in Delos and take a different form
from other areas of the Greek and Roman world, although not unique. Delian
discussed above. These incense burners are found in various sizes and because of
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resulting in different identifications for the same artefact. Since it is not clear
whether these incense burners serve a similar or different function from the larger
separate category from the altars in order to analyze the contexts of their presence
because the focus of this study is to analyze the relationship between material
objects and identities, I decided to focus on one class of objects that lends itself to
multiple and detailed analyses. Upon consideration of the objects, features, and
Compitales shrines. These features were built for a specific purpose, incorporated
Lares shrines of Delos have either concentrated on the iconography of the shrines,
associated with the shines, or have made blanket statements about the widespread
and random nature of their distribution on the island with little to no supporting
analyses. As of yet no fully contextualized study of the Lares shrines on Delos has
been attempted, nor have any analytical methods been applied which utilize both
objects and expressions of identities in domestic space. With this study I hope to
rectify this situation by analyzing the houses with and without Lares shrines to
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object classes can be associated with the presence or absence of these shrines.
Following the statistical analyses I performed, which will be described in the next
section, I will conclude the study by applying the interpretive frameworks already
mentioned to investigate what these shrines and their contexts can illuminate
B) Methodology
materials, I obtained a sample of 96 potential houses. Of these, five were not fully
data collection and recording techniques. This resulted in blank database fields for
several houses. Of the 96 originals there are eight without information about
house size, four of which also lack number of rooms. These buildings were
excluded from any of the following analyses which include the variables of house
size and number of rooms but were included in analyses using fields in which data
sample of five being considered small and fifty large [Fletcher and Lock, 200,
67]). I then did the same with houses containing other altars, resulting in a sample
of 24, which was sufficient to continue with further analyses. I then created five
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separate groups of data: the complete 96 houses represent the parent population,
houses with Lares shrines, houses with altars, houses with both an altar and a
tables and bar graphs of the number of houses by size category and number of
rooms in order to view the range of the dispersion within my five populations.
This first required removing any units without information on house size and
convert my data into a nominal scale, since this type of analysis works best with
nominal scale data. There was no need to alter the data for the number of rooms
but simply required ordering them from 1 to 20 rooms (no houses contained more
than 20 rooms on the ground floor). For the quantification of house size I created
ten nominal categories based on ascending size, after which I entered the
numerical counts. I then calculated the cumulative percentages for the categories
in both house size and number of rooms and created line graphs to visually
Next I calculated the arithmetic mean house size and numbers of rooms for
the five separate samples by using the formula ; that is the sum of
the scores divided by the total number of cases, where is the mean of
variable χ, Σ is the sum of means and n is the total number of values. The
arithmetic mean is useful only for interval and ratio data and therefore is an
appropriate measure of position for house size (ratio) and number of rooms
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(interval) (Fletcher and Loc, 2005, 1-4, 36). After the mean I calculated the
standard deviation to measure the dispersion of house size and number of rooms
squared deviation of the individual value from the mean divided by the total
number of cases (Fletcher and Lock, 2005, 47, Shennan, 1998, 42f). In order to
compare the results of the of the means and standard deviations, I calculated the
represents a very narrow spread and 1 a very wide spread (Fletcher and Lock,
2005, 48). This is useful because it provides a means to easily compare results
from the different populations and fields. The coefficient of variance is calculated
is a useful measurement for determining how much the average house deviates
from the mean in terms of size and number of rooms, it places heavier weight on
units with larger deviations (Fletcher and Lock, 2005, 18-9). It is for this reason
that I first calculated and presented the cumulative percentages of the number of
of rooms, the next contextual variables I analyzed were the presence and absence
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of prestige items and architecture. The material included in the prestige items are
socially perceived prestige value, although I did not include all items she suggests
may belong to this category of material remains. I decided that it was appropriate
to take the four dependent populations (houses with Lares, houses with altars,
houses with both and houses with none) and apply a chi-square analysis to
correlations between the presence of Lares shrines or and altars and prestige items
square test is one commonly used by archaeologists in many fields (Fletcher and
Lock, 2005, 129f; Shennan, 1998, 65f). Performing this test my data would add
differences in the presence of the prestige variables between the different samples.
It should be noted that this test does not say anything about the strength of the
containing the populations on the rows and the variables on the columns. The
decided that it would be useful to use frequency data of the prestige items in my
the prestige items. By approaching my data in this manner I will receive results
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samples.
After creating the contingency table the next step in performing the chi-
square test is to calculate what the expected values of each cell would be if the
distribution for each variable column were evenly distributed across the
populations (what is called the null hypothesis, i.e. there is no association between
the variables in the columns and rows of the table) (Shennan, 1998, 72-3). This is
cell. Next the calculated expected values are entered into the contingency table
category (or cell). In other words the chi-square is the sum of the squared
difference between the expected and observed frequency of each cell divided by
significance level represents the degree of probability that the results could occur
under the null hypothesis. For my test I will use α =0.01, or 99% confidence level.
The next step in calculation is to determine the degrees of freedom (ν) for the
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of freedom and 0.01 significance level. This gives the result of 21.666. In other
words any chi-square result of over 21.666 means that there is a 99% chance that
there is a significant relationship between variables which could not occur under
the null hypothesis (or expected values). Because the chi-square test does not say
performing this test, human error would be too high and it would take far too long
so I decided that I required the use of a statistical database package and chose to
use WinBasp. This program was created by the Bonn Archaeological Institute
represent the 96 houses and created Types representing the fields of variables
data I was compelled by the program’s inability to combine data types to create
three separate databases within WinBasp. The first contains all data and is saved
in a presence/absence format, while the second contains only abundance data and
the third only presence/absence data. Cluster analysis varies from the previously
explained statistical analyses in that the previous tests represent univariate and
bivariate techniques (that is deal with one or two variables), while Cluster analysis
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within a data set and is based on the concept that members of a group are more
similarity and differences in the parameters set by the investigator. There are,
however, several different methods within the heading of Cluster analysis and the
researcher is responsible for evaluating and choosing the method most suited to
their data set. Because of lack of space and the complicated mathematics behind
each method, I will only discuss the approach I will take. My data is best suited to
the hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis, which separates all data and then
builds groups by starting with the most similar items and continuing at
increasingly smaller levels of similarity until all units are grouped together at the
lowest level of similarity (Shennan, 1998, 195-8, 201ff). The next step was to
determine which measure of similarity I should use and I decided that the Jaccard
because it is most applicable to data sets which have many variables that occur
infrequently so that an individual unit will only contain a proportion of the total
number of variables, as is exactly the case with mine (Shennan, 1998, 195-8,
comparing the presence and absence of a series of variables between two units.
This is done by selecting any two units from the data set and counting: (a) the
number of variables present in both units, (b) the number present in i but not j
(where i and j are any two units), (c) the number present in j but not i, and (d) the
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the most similarity) that is then entered into a similarity matrix and the whole
process is repeated until every unit has been compared to every other. Thankfully
this is done by the WinBasp program because the amount of calculations involved
Next I had to establish which criterion of linkage (the criteria by which the
method to use for my data and decided on the Nearest Neighbour method. The
criterion of linkage for this method is based on the idea that to join a group a
given unit must be more similar to that group than to another. Essentially the
Nearest Neighbour method builds a new similarity matrix starting with the two
most similar units which are then formed into a group. The third item is then
compared first to unit 1 and then unit 2 and the result with the greatest similarity
is used and entered into a new matrix table. The next step is to find the largest
number (i.e. the next 2 units that are most similar) and this is used to form the
next group. This is continued until all units are in a group at the lowest level of
similarity (Shennan, 1998, 195-8, 201ff). Again this process is completed by the
WinBasp program and the results are displayed in a dendrogram. I decided that it
would be best to apply this method of cluster analysis. Unlike the previous tests,
the results of cluster analysis give some idea about the strength of associations
between the compared units or variables. There are, however, some flaws inherent
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which means that the variables are not directly compared and that some data is
lost in the translation of the variables into a numeric value (Shennan, 1998, 195-8,
patterning on the data. This happens because the highest similarity value within
the matrix created by the application of the similarity coefficient is used as the
first group (i.e. the group with the most similarity) (Shennan, 1998, 195-8, 201ff).
This means that even if the highest value is for example 0.3 (a rather low
similarity) it will still represent the highest level of similarity and will thus create
a very similar dendrogram to one where the highest value was 1.0. In other words,
cluster analysis will work the same way whether or not there is actually any
long as the results are not used without additional lines of evidence to support the
conclusions being reached. The fields I included were as follows: Lares shrines,
altars, peristyles, wall painting, mosaic floors, marble columns, columns of other
Section 4: Results
In the following section I will present the results of the analyses I performed on
my data as outlined in the previous section. I will once again present this data in
the order in which I conducted the tests since it starts from initial simple counts
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set. The variables in consideration at this stage are: courtyard type, marble
presses, amphora, tanks and domestic pottery. I will not consider house size and
number of rooms at this stage as this will dealt with in another subsection. The
artefact and feature counts enumerated below will form the basis for the majority
of my statistical analyses. As I am dealing with a rather large data set, for the
Appendix 1.
other materials such as stuccoed poros stone or granite (39% of peristyle houses,
14% of total population) while eight had only poros or granite for columns (24%
More than one entrance was found in 17 houses (18% of total population),
seventy-four have evidence for a second floor (77% of total population) and forty-
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population, 61% of mosaic houses), twenty-four have only first floor mosaics
(25% of total population, 43% of mosaic population). On the second floor, forty-
five houses have evidence of mosaics from a second floor (47% of total
mosaics on both the main and second floors (22% of total population, 38% of
mosaic houses), leaving forty-one houses have no evidence for mosaics at all
these, 63houses have evidence for first floor downstairs (84% of houses with wall
second floor paintings (35% of total population, 45% of wall painting houses). On
the second floor, forty-one have evidence for wall paintings (43% of total
population, 55% of wall painting houses), twelve of which have evidence only for
second floor paintings (of houses with wall paintings), twenty-eight have both
main and second floor wall painting (29% of total population, 37% of houses with
wall paintings), leaving twenty houses with no evidence for wall paintings (21%
of total population).
There are a total of thirty-three houses with Lares Shrines (34% of total
both Lares Shrines and altars (11% of total population, 33% of Lares houses, 41%
of altar houses) and sixteen have neither Lares shrines nor altars (63% of total
population). Herms are located in thirteen houses, seven contain incense burners
(7% of total population) and fourteen have reliefs of various kinds. There are
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forty-one houses that had sculpture, however, only seven contained portraits (7%
of total population). Nine buildings had remains of built-in ovens (9% of total
population), six contained multiple amphora (6% of total population) and nine
houses contained built –in tanks of various kinds (9% of total population). Despite
the fact that at least the majority of the buildings under study represent domestic
dwellings, only four houses were recorded as possessing domestic pottery (4% of
total population).
plans of the buildings first though an initial count and cumulative percentage
calculation of number of houses per size category. Because of lack of data the
following units were excluded from the following analyses dealing with house
eight houses in total. The distribution of houses by size category is shown in the
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clear that the 101-150m2 range is by far the most common with 28 members and
the 151-200m2 category represents the second most common with fiteen
members. There is also a trend for the number of houses within the categories to
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decrease as the size increases. The one noteable exception to this trend is the
largest category of over 700m2. However, if I was to divide this category into
three distinct categories of 701-800m2, 801-900m2 and 901 to 100m2, the trend
returns with none of these new categories containing over two members. This
trend becomes more evident when the houses in size categories are graphed by
cumulative percentage. There is a steep increase within the first few categories
after which there is a decrease in the rise which occurs because approximately
40% of the total sample lies below 150m2 and 58% below 200m2.
Next I repeated the same process with number of rooms on the ground floor,
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The patterns within this data set are less immediately obvious than in the house
size categories and this is most likely due to the fact that the number of rooms can
vary substantially from house to house and is not necessarily dependent on house
size alone. There are, however, some trends visible in the data, which conform
more or less to the patterns seen in the data organized by house size. First, there is
the same trend of a steep rise within the first few categories followed by a general
decrease. A notable exception is the categories of eleven and twelve rooms, which
Once again when the cumulative percentage is graphed (above) we see a similar
trend in the line graph of houses size, namely a steep (although not as steep)
My next step in quantification was to compare the results of these analyzes with
those of the child populations I created; namely houses with Lares, houses with
altars, houses with both and houses with none. The same general pattern is visible
when the total population results are compared with the results of the child
populations: there is a rise under the first two house size categories followed by a
decline. However, there are several significant variations seen when the child
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100m2
101 2
42.05 8 30.3 5 29.17 2 27.27 16 53.85
-150m2 8
1
151-
1 57.95 4 42.42 5 50 3 54.55 7 71.8
200m2
5
201-
9 68.18 3 51.52 2 58.33 0 54.55 4 82.05
250m2
251-
7 76.14 4 63.64 2 66.66 1 63.64 2 87.18
300m2
301-
9 86.36 5 78.79 2 75 1 72.72 3 94.87
400m2
401-
5 92.05 2 84.85 4 91.66 1 81.82 0 94.87
500m2
501-
1 93.18 1 87.88 0 91.66 0 81.82 0 94.87
600m2
601-
2 95.45 2 93.94 1 95.83 1 90.91 0 94.87
699m2
over
4 à100 2 100 1 100 1 100 2 100
700m2
It is apparent when looking at the cumulative percentage graph below that certain
absence of ritual artefacts or features and the size of the houses. First of all the
houses with neither a Lares shrine nor an altar are overall smaller than those that
possess one or both of the ritual objects. In fact the houses with neither Lares
shrines nor altars are overall smaller than the total population results. While
42.05% of the total population of houses are 150m2 or under, 53.85% of the
houses with no Lares shrine or altar are in the same size category. At the same
time it can be said that the houses with either a shrine or an altar are generally
larger overall than the total population results: 30.30% of houses with Lares
shrines are 150m2 or under, while 29.13% of altar houses and 27.27% of houses
with both are in the same size category. This trend continues throughout all size
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Houses with no Lares shrines or altars are consistently smaller than the total
population and the other child populations: 31.87% of the total population,
15.15% of houses with Lares, 19.23% of houses with altars, 27.27% of houses
with both have six rooms or less in comparison to 46.34% of houses with none.
Again this same trend is visible throughout the categories of number of rooms,
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allowing a generalization to be made that houses with the presence of one or more
ritual/religious material expression overall have more rooms than houses with
none.
rooms. Generally the majority of houses in Delos (57.95%) are less than 200m2
and have eight or less rooms (50.55%). Houses with Lares shrines, altars or both
are generally larger and have more rooms than the total population: only 42.42%
of houses with Lares shrines, 50.00% of houses with altars and 54.55% of houses
with both are 200m2 or less; 33.33% of houses with Lares, 38.46% of houses with
altars, and 45.45% of houses with both have eight rooms or less. In comparison
houses with neither religious material expression are overall smaller and have
fewer rooms than either the total population or the other child populations:
71.80% of houses with none are less than 200m2 and 75.61% have eight rooms or
less. It should be noted, however, that the child populations of houses with Lares
shrines, houses with altars and houses with both conform are not substantially
larger or have more rooms than the total population. The most significant
differences in house size and number of rooms are visible when the houses with
either or both Lares shrines or altars are compared to those that have none at all.
In order to determine whether another means of analysis would yield the same
category, number of rooms and population, I decided to calculate and compare the
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means, standard deviation, and variance coefficients of house size and number of
rooms by populations. Calculating the mean house size and number of rooms,
not provide information about the distribution or spread of house sizes within
each category, whereas calculating the standard deviation shows that in some
cases units significantly varied from the mean. Similarly, the variance coefficients
provide information about the extent of the spread of house sizes within each
category.
deviation and variance coefficient for house size and number of rooms for the
sample of 88 houses with information on house size. I then did the same for the
subsamples of houses with Lares, houses with altars, houses with both and houses
with none, and applied the same formulas in order to compare the results. Rather
than listing the results of the mean, standard deviation and variance coefficient for
each sample, I will present them in the following tables and bar graphs which
The mean house size of the total sample is 240.6 m2, however, there is a rather
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particularly small and several particularly large houses. As seen in the variance
coefficient, 0.698, there is a significantly large spread in house size, the fourth
largest of all the samples. The results of this population will be used to as the
control group for comparison for the results of the remaining populations in order
to determine if the variables of Lares shrines and altars significantly alter the
It is immediately apparent that houses with Lares shrines are generally larger than
the total population with a mean house size of 299.7m2. Houses with altars are
also larger than the total population with a mean house size of 268.72m2. Houses
with both a Lares shrine and an altar represent the largest mean house size of the
all four populations have a variance coefficient of over 0.500 showing that despite
the differences of mean sizes and standard deviations, all populations have a
The results of the calculation and comparison of the mean house sizes generally
reveal the same trends as the previous analysis of the number of houses per size
category and sample. The generalizations mentioned above hold true: houses with
neither Lares shrines nor altars are smaller overall than the total population as
well as houses with either ritual object. Houses with either a Lares shrine, an altar,
or both are larger than the total population mean, and houses with both have a
larger mean than all other populations aside from houses with peristyles (although
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there is not a significant difference between the mean size of houses with both and
I repeated the same process and calculated the mean number of rooms, as well as
the standard deviation and variance coefficient for the same categories.
Standard
Population Mean # of Rooms Deviation Variance Coefficient
Total 9.253 4.019 0.431
Lares 11.344 4.498 0.396
Altars 9.556 3.51 0.367
Both 9.636 3.748 0.389
None 8.024 3.242 0.404
Once again, the results are similar to the previous cumulative percentage
calculations. The mean number of rooms per house in the total population is 9.253
with a standard deviation of 4.019 rooms and a variance coefficient of 0.431. The
houses with neither an altar nor a Lares shrines have a mean number of rooms of
Similarly, the houses with Lares, altars and both have more rooms than houses
with no ritual object and the total population. It is significant that the houses with
altars as well as the houses with both a Lares shrine and an altar are quite close to
the total population with a mean number of rooms of 9.556 and 9.636
respectively. The Lares shrines, on the other hand, have significantly more rooms
than any other population with a mean number of rooms of 11.344. It is also
important to note that there is little difference in the standard deviations of all
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populations and that all variance coefficients lie below 0.500 representing a
narrow spread.
The results from the calculation of mean house size and number of rooms
therefore adds another level of evidence that there is a relationship between the
domestic space.
After completing the analyses on the ground plans of the different samples
more likely to occur together. It is important that I note here that the nature of the
assemblages, there is a distinct possibility that the results will be biased in terms
of the artefacts they chose to record. This means that many categories of domestic
items cannot be included in the following analyses. I have made a conscious effort
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to not include categories, such as domestic pottery, which I know are unreliable in
is, however a possibility that some of the categories that are included do not
Despite these difficulties, I still strongly suggest that this is a risk worth taking,
since new information on sites excavated long ago can only be gleaned through
The first artefact and architectural analysis I performed on my data set was
a chi square test in order to determine whether there is any statistically significant
association between the presence of ritual material objects and prestige items and
architecture. The prestige items included in this analysis are marble architecture,
methodology.
Table 7: Chi Square Contingency Table for Number of Prestige Items and
Presence of Lares Shrines and Altars
# of
Prestige
Items 0 1 2 3 4 Row Total
LARES
HOUSES 1 6 5 3 7 22
ALTAR
HOUSES 2 5 4 2 2 15
BOTH
HOUSES 1 2 3 3 2 11
NONE
HOUSES 16 16 9 5 1 47
Column 20 29 21 13 12 95
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total
Sum of
Column
totals 95
The chi square value for my contingency table is 21.694 which is a statistically
Table 8: Chi Square Calculation from Contingency Table for Number of Prestige
Items and Presence of Lares Shrines and Altars
Although the chi square value does not say anything about the strength of
the association, by looking at the value for each cell of the observed value minus
the expected value squared divided by the expected value [(O-E)2/E] we can
determine which cells contribute most to the total chi square value. Cells 1, 4, 17
and 20 represent the highest values and therefore contribute the most to the
overall chi square value. Cells 1 and 17 are from the houses with Lares
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population, while cells 4 and 20 come from the houses with none population,
showing that these two populations contribute the most to the chi square value.
Cell 1 represents the correlation between houses with Lares shrines and houses
with no prestige items. The value for the observed value minus the expected value
is negative meaning there are fewer occurrences than expected if the values were
evenly distributed across the cells. In contrast cell 17, which represents the
correlation between the presence of Lares and the presence of all 4 prestige items,
has a high positive value. This means that there are more occurrences than
expected. These two cells provide a line of evidence suggesting that the presence
of Lares shrines are more likely to occur with all prestige items than none. Cell 4
corresponds to the correlation between the presence of neither a Lares shrine nor
an altar and the presence of no prestige items. This field exhibits a much higher
observed value than expected. Cell 20 represents the association between the
presence of no Lares shrine or altar and all prestige items, which displays fewer
incidences than expected. The values of cells 4 and 20 suggest that houses with no
altar or Lares shrine are more likely to have no prestige items than all of them.
be interpreted inversely. Houses with more prestige goods are more likely to have
a Lares shrine, than houses with no prestige items. While this may seem at first to
mean the same thing, there is a significant difference in which category predicts
the presence of the other. Chi-square tests, however, cannot provide an answer to
which category influences the other but can only provide evidence that there is a
correlation.
The final statistical test I performed, with the assistance of the statistical
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builds groups based on similarity by grouping the most similar items together, and
continuing at increasingly smaller levels finally grouping all items together at the
analysis are: peristyles, wall painting, columns made of marble, columns made of
other material, marble thresholds, second entrances, Lares shrines, altars, reliefs,
mills/mortars, tanks, ovens, amphora and tables. The main purpose in performing
this test is to determine which of these categories group together based on the
similarity of where they occur (i.e. in which houses) In addition, this test will help
determine what types of artefacts and features occur in association with Lares
shrines and altars, adding valuable contextual information about the setting of
The results of the cluster analysis more or less conform to the results of the
chi square analysis. At level five, the highest level of similarity, mosaics, marble
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columns, marble thresholds and sculpture are grouped together, revealing that
these items are most likely to occur together. At level four, Lares shrines,
peristyles, wall painting, reliefs and columns made from materials other than
marble join the items from group five. These results are quite significant. Similar
to the chi square analysis these results reveal that prestige items are likely to occur
similarity four and five show that prestige items such as marble architecture,
sculpture, mosaics and wall painting occur together more often than they occur
with other items or features. It is also interesting that altars do not enter into the
cluster analysis until level three and are most similar to second entrances, incense
burners, tanks, mills/mortars, herms, tables and portraits. It is also interesting that
altars occur together with herms and incense burners at level three, while at level
four Lares shrines occur with reliefs. These results suggest that there may be a
or ritual identities. Lares shrines and reliefs are more likely to occur together in
association with prestige items, while altars, herms and incense burners occur in
mills/mortars. Moreover, altars, herms and incense burners are also grouped with
secondary entrances. Perhaps this may suggest that the domestic spaces where
altars, herms, incense burners, tanks, mills/mortars and secondary entrances occur
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come together to suggest that there are indeed identifiable patterns in terms of the
with religious/ritual items such as Lares shrines and altars are more likely to be
larger and have more rooms than houses with no such objects. Additionally, Lares
shrines are more likely to occur in association with prestige goods such as marble
first consider the nature of religious and ritual activity and identity. Following the
definition of religion and ritual. Following this definition I will proceed to review
and describe the cult of the Lares Compitales on Delos in terms of its elements,
and incense burners. In other words, I will explain the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the
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will end this section with conclusions concerning how this research can be more
The following working definition of religion and ritual closely follows the
postulates that religion consists of actions and practices of various human groups
occurring in the observable world (Stowers, 2008, 7-8). The actions and practices
involved have social weight because individuals who participate in the action and
those who do not both assign value to the practices. Repetition confirms and
reinforces the social significance of the practices. Because they are considered
socially valuable the repetition of these practices construct the overarching ideas,
meanings, concepts, purposes and goals of the religion (Stowers, 2008, 8, 13-14).
These constructed meanings in turn inform the practices and actions of the
value between the practice and constructed meanings. This results in the ability of
the practices, ideas, myths, stories, specific language associated with religions to
evolve and change over time through changing social and cultural norms, values,
needs and desires of the participants (Stowers, 2008, 14). Shared participation in
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the practices and constructed meanings, which have social value, also function to
create and maintain group bonds and solidarity. Those participating are separated
from those who are not, creating a sense of identity and other.
Despite the fact that this shared participation creates group bonds,
the … religion with gender, age and freedom or lack of it counting as the key
determinate.” (Stowers, 2008,13). In other words, even within the group there are
sub-groups of individuals whose needs and values may vary from the dominant
Actors inherited the practices, the beliefs, the stories, the language, and so
on, but did not simply act on the basis of rules and norms. They also acted
strategically on the basis of individual and local interests... Whatever the
social rules and structures, actors with interests in economic gain, prestige,
values, and endless varieties of desire can improvise within the
possibilities of the practices. Over time, practices can evolve or change
due to larger socially shared interests that become orchestrated in practice
(2008, 14).
manipulated or elaborated too far then it becomes a different entity and essentially
is no longer the same religion. It is not, however, only the participants that
manipulation possible.
performed and where it is not (Stowers, 2008, 11-12). This space may be a
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within the home, for example, it may be more specifically located at a hearth, an
altar, shrine or dining table (Stowers, 2008, 12). The ‘place’ structures where
religious practices can and cannot occur as well as the types of actions performed
there. For example, the ritual activities performed at a hearth will vary from those
performed at a dining table, which in turn vary from those performed at a public
temple. The actions performed in different religious places may not always vary
This theory is applicable to most if not all world religions past and present
and allows for flexibility in its application. Because of this flexibility, however, it
A distinct feature of religion and ritual practice in both the Greek and
Roman worlds is its integration into other aspects of daily life such as economics,
politics, and social order (Stowers 2008: 9-10). Because it was embedded within
the wider socio-cultural context, religion and ritual activity was not a matter of
personal belief nor was it a distinct facet of daily life occupying a separate field
practices in the Greek or Roman world within the wider context of the social,
and Roman religion on land in terms of both food production and personal
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ownership. The involvement of Greek and Roman religion in agricultural and land
Individuals and groups made dedications and offerings to various gods in the form
of first fruits and food products of other kinds. In addition many of the deities and
beings in both the Greek and Roman worlds involved protection of individual and
Hestia/Vesta, forms of Zeus (most notably Ktesios; of the possessions), the Lares,
the Penates, the Genius and so on (Faraone, 2008, 211, 216). In fact, one can state
with some confidence that most if not all religious or ritual activities in both the
Greek and Roman worlds served to ensure the social, economic and overall well-
being of the group (Stowers, 2008, 9-10; Faraone, 2008, 212, 213).
This is the case not only for public cults, but for private or domestic
activity taking place within the home is separate from the larger community and
its public rituals this was not the case in either Greek or Roman religious
practices. It is true that domestic religion was private in that it took place within
the sheltered protection of the home away from the eyes of non-household
Because both Greek and Roman religious practices and ideas were
similarly integrated into the wider societal contexts, it was possible for the
their own needs and desires. This meant that participants were able to construct
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their own meaning through the practice of other religious practices because they
were similar enough to their own. In other words, if the types of actions and
own existing set of religious practices without compromising the social value
placed upon them. It is in cases where the overall nature, practices and
new practices while still considering them as socially significant as the original
involved in a religion that admits and allows only one deity was not viewed as
There are many other ways in which Greek and Roman religious practices
can be explicated within the theoretical framework outlined above, however, since
on Delos, for the remainder of this section I will concentrate on Delian religious
addition, several cults from beyond the Greco-Roman world per se, such Syrian,
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Egyptian and Jewish manifestations of religion are present as well (Tang, 2005,
63-4). This reflects the so-called ‘cosmopolitan’ nature of the island, where
above, a community of this variable nature required a wide range of religions and
cults in order to accommodate the different needs and desires of the different
groups living there and this is exactly what we see. Since I am not dealing with all
forms of religious and ritual activity, but will focus on one specific material
residential districts of Delos, and rarely shops were shrines which usually
abutting the wall of a house (Hasenohr, 2003, 172). Rarely a bench replaced the
altar that held the offerings (Hasenohr, 2003, 171). The altars and walls
surrounding the shrines were painted with specific sets images and sometimes
were associated with a niche in the wall above them. Obviously the paintings did
not survive on all of the shrines, but were preserved to varying degrees, some
almost wholly intact and others leaving only traces of where the altar once stood.
Evidence of several coats of paintings suggests that participants did not set up
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these shrines for a single use but rather refurbished and used them regularly
The painted images are located on faces of the altar as well as in niches
and on the walls surrounding the altars in various combinations. The main scene
on the front of the altar consists of sacrifice scenes where one or more individuals
performed a ritual offering on an altar much like the ones on which they appear.
in that they were clothed in togas and perform the ritual velato capite (with head
covered) (Hasenohr, 2003, 172). There is, however, at least one occurrence (at
DelN26, the house west of the Maison de la Colline) where the depicted
individuals perform the sacrifice in Greek fashion with heads were wreathed
rather than covered with a toga (Bezerra de Meneses and Sarian, 1973, 79-97;
BCH, 89, 1965, 989-91; Bruneau, 1970, 404-5, 590-4). The main individual
performing the sacrifice usually has a hand outstretched over the altar and
sometimes holds a patera in libation (Hasenohr, 2003, 173). The items sacrificed
usually consist of meat, identified as pork sections, fruit and incense (Hasenohr,
2003, 172).
figures often accompany the scene dressed in short garments, often leading a
sacrificial pig or holding other items for sacrifice such as vessels containing food
and/or drink and identified usually as slaves or attendants One or more aulus
space, images of pugilists are found sometimes in association with prizes, either
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an amphora, a palm, crown, or ham (Hasenohr, 2003, 174, 176-9). Other images
of the Lares are found. They are dressed in short tunics, sometimes with a mantle
attached at the neck or floating from the back, Phrygian caps or wreathed with
2003, 174-5). Other themes that occur are generally variations of the ones
mentioned above and occur only once and so I will not go into detail about them
since the aim of this project is not an iconographic analysis but rather an
identities. In order to answer these questions I will first give an overview of the
David Orr wrote several lengthy works detailing the various types of cults
found within and near domestic spaces in the Roman world. A fair amount of his
research focused on the Lares, and unlike Bulard and Bruneau. Orr identifies
several different manifestations of the Lares: the Lares familiaris (of the
household/family), the Lares viales (of the roads), the Lares permarini (of ocean
voyages), the Lares militaris (of the soldiers), the Lares semitales (of the footpaths
or byways) the Lares ludentes (of the games), and the Lares Compitales (of the
crossroads) (Orr, 1988, 1566-7). Inscriptions dating from the Republican to late
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Imperial periods located in various parts of the Roman world attest to these names
of the Lares (CIL II 4320, II 2417, II 2518, VI 36810, XI 3079, XIV 4547),
however, they give little information about how or why the Lares were divided
into different manifestations (Orr, 1988, 1566-7). As a way of explanation for the
various manifestations and divisions of realms and functions of the Lares, Orr
provides information on two different theories on the origins and history of the
Lares in the Roman world. The first of these suggests that the Lares were the
deified ancestors who were worshipped at domestic hearths, while the second
postulates that they were first deities of the fields and agriculture before being
brought into the home by slaves (Orr, 1972, 5-6). The oldest known
manifestations of the Lares are the Compitales, which, as described above in the
population (Orr, 1972, 5-6). Unfortunately there is little proof to suggest how the
Lares came into being and how they came to operate in different realms. There is
somewhat of a consensus among scholars, however, that despite their origins the
Lares had fixed localities or dimensions in which they operated (Orr, 1972, 5-7).
protective and productive nature (Orr, 1972, 6). The function of the Lares was to
protect the homes and fields in which they operated as well as protect those
travelling on major and minor roads and alleys as well as by sea and with the
military (Orr, 1972, 6). In addition, the Lares ensured the productivity of the
family and their fields which in turns ensures the well being and success of the
household (Orr, 1972, 6). Much of the information about the form and function of
the religious practices associated with the Lares cults can be found in literary and
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inscriptional evidence from the Republican and Imperial periods of the Roman
world.
There are a few literary sources that specifically mention the Lares
and therefore we should view the information they provide with some scepticism
as to their applicability to the Delian context. The earliest reference comes from
the Poet Naevius from the 3rd C BCE. Naevius discusses a man named Theodotus
who is painting “Lares Ludentes” on altars for the Compitalia (ap. Festus 230M).
Because he does not mention the location, nature or function of the cult this
reference only tells of its existence in the third century. Dionysos of Halicarnassus
next mentions the Lares Compitales in much greater detail. He talks about
προνώπιοι (heroes of the facades) in all of the στενωποί (either roads or alleys )
and says that the ceremonies were performed εν τοις προνωπίοις (in front of
houses/doors) and were limited to slaves (IV 14) (Hasenohr, 2003, 193). He also
says that the festival and cult was instituted by Servius Tullius in the period
before the Roman Republic. Aulus Gellius in the 1st C CE discusses the ritual
practices associated with the cult. He mentions how the night before the
Compitalia the participants attached wool dolls for each free member of the free
members of the household and wool balls for each slave to the Compita
(crossroads or where four properties met) or the doors (Attic Nights 10.24, 3 in
of information was Aulus himself (Orr 1988: 1565; Hasenohr 2003: 168). Horace
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states that on the day of the festival, which occurs at the beginning of January at
the winter solstice, honey cakes and pork were sacrificed and games (ludi
compitalicii) were celebrated in the streets (Odes III 23, 3-4 in Hasenohr, 2003,
168). In the 1st C BCE Cato mention that the vicilus of a villa should give his
slaves a double portion of wine (de Agricultura 57, 2). Although these sources
provide some information about the cult of the Lares Compitales, most of it can
be inferred from the shrines in Delos and therefore elucidate little on the nature of
the cult. Turning to scholarly investigations of the cult we find that there was little
agreement as to the origins of the cult in the Greco-Roman world and even less
considerable debate exists as to their exact nature and function. M. Bulard in 1926
Lares familiaris and a part of the Roman domestic cult. Philip Bruneau in 1970
reconsidered this when he identified them with the Lares Compitales or Lares of
the Crossroads. Bruneau`s reasons for dismissing these shrines as a part of the
domestic cult was due to the fact that the shrines do not occur within the
boundaries of the home but rather were set up in public beyond the home.
Bruneau identified these shrines as belonging to the shrine types commonly found
in the cult of the Lares of the compita. Bruneau made reference to the two
different types of Lares shrines found in Pompeii; those within the home, often in
a kitchen area, and those at the crossroads and in the streets. Despite a small
amount of iconographic variation, the Lares shrines from Delos most resemble, in
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form, location and imagery, those outside the houses in Pompeii. Scholars looking
at the Lares shrines of Delos since then have consistently agreed that the
cult.
Evidence for cult members is found in epigraphic material from the Agora
of the Compitaliastai, a civic building with several large inscriptions in Delos (ID
1760-1771) written in Greek and the earliest of which date from 100 to 92 BCE
(Bruneau, 1970, 615-9; Tang, 2005, 53). These inscriptions list individuals
participating in the cult rituals. Bruneau discovered that it was primarily slaves
and freedmen of Roman families that were listed (Bruneau, 1970, 615-620; Tang,
2005, 53; Hasenohr, 2003, 211). Most of these individuals had Greek praenomen
Tullius dedicated a statue to their patron which was inscribed with a dedication in
both Latin and Greek (ID 1802; Rauh, 1993, 202). One of these, the freedman Q.
from the Agora of the Compitaliastai as a magister in 97/98 BCE (ID 1761; Tang,
2005, 56) The agora also provided evidence for magistrates heading the cult
which Bruneau (as well as Claire Hasenohr) suggests are equivalent to the vico
169, 213)
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inscribed and interpreted to be the three names Theog[…], [H]ip[…], and Iason
(Bezerra de Meneses and Sarian 1973: 79-97; BCH 89, 1965, 989-91; Bruneau
1970, 404-5, 590-4; Hasenohr, 2003, 174). On the shrine outside of DelST3,
de Meneses and Sarian, 1973, 79-97; BCH 89, 1965, 989-91; Bruneau, 1970, 404-
5, 590-4; Hasenohr, 2003, 174). All of these names are of Greek origin but in this
case there is no Roman cognomen associated and therefore does not provide
The latest attempt to elucidate the history and nature of the Lares
investigations into the Lares Compitales cult resulted in the identification of the
cult associated with the shrines, as well as a detailed description of the shrines and
their associated iconography. What remains to discuss is how these shrines can be
interpreted in light of the theory of religion explicated above and how and why
identity.
and negotiation.
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The cult of the Lares Compitales was very likely brought to Delos by Italian
families. As a socially valued religious practice that Romans and Italians were
accustomed to participating in, its presence in Delos where there was a fair
differences seen between the manifestation of the cult in Delos and in Italy,
Pompeii for example, the practices and material expression of the cult of the Lares
possible that originally this cult was limited to Romans or Italians, the evidence
from Delos shows that individuals of Greek origin or at least Greek ancestry
participated in the cult. Since the cult seems to be mainly or at least in large part
associated with slaves and freedmen of Italian families it is also possible that
these were the individuals who were responsible for transporting the cult to Delos
rather than it being brought by free Italians or Romans and then adopted by
indigenous Greeks. The practices and social values associated with Roman cults
were, as mentioned above, similar to those of Greek religious and ritual practices
and therefore the Lares Compitales cult was likely easily adopted and adapted on
participated in this cult and what particular needs and desires to which these
practices responded.
In order to determine what needs and desires of freedmen and slaves are being
fulfilled by participating in the Lares Compitales cult we must look at the values
associated with the practices of the cult and the ideals and physical location that
structure the practices. The Lares Compitales are associated with physical
boundaries. The ‘place’ where they are venerated throughout the Roman world
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are crossroads, the boundary between four properties, and at doors of houses. At
Delos the cult is practiced at the doors of houses, a boundary between the
household and outside world. At the most obvious level, the ideal and meaning
At a more symbolic level the physical boundary can be associated with other
types of boundaries. In the Greek and Roman worlds the idea of boundaries is not
merely physical but symbolic as well. A boundary can be physical and social,
sacred and profane which is both physical and symbolic. The place structures
changes in behaviour, practices, and norms. What is possible outside the boundary
may not be acceptable within it. An example of how a boundary can be social and
symbolic is the boundary between childhood and adulthood, that is, a right of
social (the person is now a citizen and as such has new rights and responsibilities)
and symbolic in the sense that meaning has been assigned to what is essentially an
In the case of the Delian Lares Compitales, the cult operates at physical
boundaries between the household and the outside world and at social boundaries
between the free and enslaved. During the time period when the Lares Compitales
cult was being practiced at Delos, the mid to late 2nd C BCE and the mid 1st C
freedom creating what was essentially a new social class. As an emergent social
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free and enslaved. The association between the place and the meaning here can be
practices that construct meaning are the mediation and protection of this boundary
and the meaning and value is the social or symbolic boundary of level of freedom.
freedmen are able to create and maintain group bonds with other individuals of
the same status. Through the creation of group bonds and solidarity these
negotiating and placing value on their social identity. As a newly emerging social
class, freedmen belong neither to the free nor enslaved and as such must create
their own sense of group membership. By participating in a cult which not only is
associated with physical boundaries but social ones as well (level of freedom),
in this social boundary zone which did not previously exist. As individuals who
have crossed social boundaries, freed individuals would likely have newly
associated needs and desires. They would not, however, create entirely new
Religious practices to serve these needs out of thin air. It is likely that the Lares
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participating in religious action that previous existed, the members of the cult are
possible that if free individuals participated it was because the Lares were a
traditional Roman cult and through doing so they confirmed their social status. On
the other hand, freed individuals participating in the same cult are negotiating
their social value as becoming socially closer to free citizens. The increasing
freedom comes with increasing rights, such as the ownership of property for
example, previously only available to free citizens and not available to the
enslaved. The needs and desires that this cult responds to for freedmen, therefore,
is the need to feel a sense of group belonging with other individuals with similar
class closer to free citizens. Slaves, however were also participants involved in the
In the case of slaves, who occupy one distinct side of the social boundary it is
possible that their participation in the cult reflects a desire or aspiration towards
moving upwards through social boundaries into the freed zone. As the number of
freed slaves was increasing the possibility for a slave to move upwards in the
the dominant group may have different needs and desires, which can result in
changing constructed meanings. For slave members it could be that the meaning
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associated with practicing the rituals associated with the Lares Compitales cult
were linked to the aspiration of upward social mobility. For the freed members it
concerned the achievement of this status, and for free members it was about
freedmen. For the enslaved and freed members, a religious practice which already
existed that dealt with boundary zones would have been an attractive medium for
elaboration of meaning incorporating their own goals and desires within a socially
Compitales Cult
enlightening. I have shown that the Lares shrines are associated with all types and
sizes of houses but that the presence of shrines increase in houses that are larger,
have more rooms, and more prestige goods. This could be interpreted to mean that
wealthy free citizens are more likely to own these houses with Lares shrines,
great lengths to express his wealth and social status materially. It is also a matter
of disdain in the late Republican and early empire that freedmen go to lengths to
adorn their houses with prestige and luxury items in order to bolster their social
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newly created social group who are no longer enslaved, freedmen may have
potentially felt the need to express their position in society as freed individuals
and property holders. Additional support is given by the fact that the majority of
the shrines were made of stuccoed poros stone meant to mimic monolithic marble
in order to resemble those made of marble. This suggests that they were in a
process of negotiation of their economic and social identities since they were
attempting to present a different image on the surface than what was underneath.
The physical expression of wealth and status cannot be concretely associated with
and freedmen and the expression of wealth in domestic space, which is attested in
approximately the same period. However, altars are also associated with larger
houses with more prestige goods and therefore it is possible that the presence of
these material expressions of religious identities occur in these houses because the
inhabitants of these homes are simply able to afford the resources needed to
At this time, the results of my statistical analysis suggest only houses with Lares
Compitales shrines seem to be associated more with the larger homes with more
prestige items. It is not possible to say with any degree of certainty whether or not
it was free or freed individuals who owned the houses associated with the Lares
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shrines. It is possible, however, to exclude the possibility that slaves owned these
houses because they were unable to purchase or own property on their own. One
household composition changes over time, the needs and desires of that household
also changes. Because of this, it is entirely possible that the meaning of the
shrines, as well as the needs to which they responded evolved as well. It is also
interesting to note that there are several attested cases in the Roman world at this
time where sons and grandsons of slaves or freedmen were able to move up in the
social ranks and achieve prominent and respected positions previously only
likely that the significance of the Lares Compitales shrines and their use would
or otherwise, to suggest this has occurred at Delos, but it is important to note that
situations like this can arise which can drastically alter the meaning and practices
I must concede at this point that further research is necessary in order to confirm
Greek and Roman religious practices were deeply embedded and interdependent
on the wider social, political, economic and cultural contexts of the society. While
it was not within the scope of this project to explicate fully the wider context of
Greek and Roman society, it would be beneficial for a future project to include a
could incorporate other potential fields of such as the affect that different periods
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Crysta Leslie
of Delian history and its occupation by Athens and then Rome had on the
practices associated with the Lares Compitales cult. It would also be beneficial to
include an analysis focusing on Delos as a trade port and the affect that contact
with material culture and ideas from different parts of the Mediterranean world
would have on religious practices. Additionally, it was not within the scope of this
project to include iconographic and art historical analyses to the material remains
of the shrines and therefore this is another area that could be reinvestigated within
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