Lares
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Lares were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these.
Lar holding a cornucopia from Axatiana (now Lora del Rio) in Roman Spain, early first century AD (National Archaeological Museum of Spain)
Fresco in Pompeii depicting two lares with rhyton and situla, genius offering at an altar, flute-player, servant with vase and servant pushing a pig to the altar; below: altar with fruits and eggs between two snakes (agathodaimones)
Bronze statuette of a dancing Lar holding a rhyton and patera, probably from Campania, 1st century AD (Gäubodenmuseum, Straubing)
Inscription to the Lares Viales, the Lares of the roads
Tutelary deity
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A tutelary is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship.
The mural crown of Cybele represents the walls of the city she protects
Lararium depicting tutelary deities of the house: the ancestral Genius (center) flanked by two Lares, with a guardian serpent below
Stone doors of a tomb of the period of the Northern Dynasties to Tʻang Dynasty, excavated in Ching-pien County of the city of Yü-lin, Shensi Province. It shows two figures with tridents as the guardian deities of the tomb.
A Thai spirit house for the Chao Thi in front of a car dealership in Bangkok