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 thes
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)
Ancient Roman denarius that—according to Scullard depicts the Lares Praestites.
Inscription to the Lares Viales, the Lares of the roads
Di Penates
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In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates or Penates were among the dii familiares, or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the
Lares
…blessing seem to have been required at all important family events. Roman writers sometimes identify or conflate them with ancestor-deities, domestic Penates, and the hearth. Because of these associations, Lares are sometimes categorised as household gods, but some had much broader domains. Roadways, seaways…
Aeneas and the Penates, from a 4th-century manuscript
AR serrate denarius of C. Sulpicius C. f. Galba