We were trying to decide where to go on a winter break a year or two ago and came across the DVD series Roma. Long ago we had been fortunate enough to live in Rome for a year and it has always fascinated us. We were enthralled by the DVD. The script was good, the characters were well drawn and the attention to the detail of every day life in ancient Rome was stupendous. The gods were calling us back.
As with all old sites there is always something new to see. The Roman houses in the Caelio were now available for visiting by night with nibbles and wine and recitations of Roman poetry.
Nero’s Golden Palace was newly opened to the public too. The Spuma on the Asti (an Italian version of Icing on the Cake, maybe!) was our visit to Cinecitta studios where we saw the sets of the series we had been so avidly watching all winter.
Following the Romans
Holidays since then have largely consisted of visiting the remains of the Roman Empire, usually following Hadrian. We started out by travelling with Andante Travels who do wonderful tours to the Roman and Greek world with an accompanying archaeologist.
Our first trip with them was to Pompeii (see photo above) which was magnificent. We took in all the sites around the Bay of Naples which had been destroyed by the explosion of Vesuvius in 79 AD whilst the accompanying archaeologist read us extracts from Pliny the Younger and we climbed the slopes of Vesuvius while the geologist explained the cataclysmic explosion, the “fumerolles” and the course of the eruption. It was enthralling.
Magical Mystery Tour
We were so spellbound by the tour that we signed on for another one to Syria in the course of which we went to Palmyra and admired the temple of Baal and the remains of myriads of shrines to unnamed gods of the caravan routes. We followed in the steps of St Paul in Damascus (photo on the left)) and visited Krak des Chevaliers, the famous fort built by the Crusaders to protect the pilgrim route to Jerusalem.
It was a magical mystery tour, especially when we went to the furthest bounds of the Roman Empire and stood on the banks of the Euphrates, looking east. We had gone back two thousand years and more.
Last year, we changed tack and cruised on a traditional Turkish wooden schooner with Westminster Classic Tours and 16 like-minded enthusiasts, down the coast of Turkey, taking in Troy and Ephesus. We followed in the footsteps of Hadrian and St Paul.
We were again accompanied by a well known archaeologist and a British guide who spoke fluent Turkish. The meals were all on board and wonderful and the Turkish wines were a real find. Once more at Ephesus we came across shrines to deities and of course the famous Temple of Diana/Artemis and on Tenedos the remains of a temple to the Mouse God — Apollo Smintheus.
This summer we cruised down the coast of Croatia (another Roman province) with 28 others but it wasn’t a tour dedicated to archaeology so it was less satisfying for our rapacious minds. We did, however, take in Domitian’s Palace in Split but it was in Trogir that we met our fate.
We had noticed from all our reading (if you are thinking about going on one of these trips, read all about it before you go otherwise it will be just like looking at “a bunch of old stones” as one American so aptly remarked) and from the sites visited that the Romans and, indeed, the peoples before them, all dedicated their houses to a named spirit.
Practising Catholics used to have a Sacred heart Statue or a Virgin (or in this area St Theresa of Lisieux), Jewish households have a Mezuzah at the front door and those who have been to Mecca probably have a piece of sacred stone somewhere in their house.
In Roman times these gods and spirits were called Lares and Penates. The lares were the spirits of the families’ ancestors. They were represented by little figurines which would be kept in a special cupboard. Among them the lar familiaris, (see photo at left) the family spirit, was the most important. Everyday short prayers and small offerings would be made to the lares. On special days like a wedding, birth or birthday, more elaborate rituals were held in their honour.
The penates were the spirits of the larder and thanks were given to them for keeping the family fed. They too were represented by little figurines and they too had their own little cupboard but they would be taken out and placed on the table during mealtimes. When the family moved house, then its lares and penates invariably moved with them.
We have recently moved home, and the new little building (which had probably been part byre/stable) had a cute little niche in the dining room beam — just right for a household deity.
It is inhabited for the moment by the spirit of Canada (see photo at left) but we decided that the move entitles us to another god. We would have loved the Chinese Kitchen god we had seen in a Hong Kong restaurant as we both love good food. We thought of Bacchus, God of Wine, which renders us happy on a fairly regular basis or Pomona, Goddess of Apples, as we are cider-makers. But somehow they did not really appeal.
Our trip to Trogir in Croatia furnished us with just the deity for us. He is called Kairos and we came across him in the museum of the convent in Trogir where part of a stone carving showing this god was found. There are only three representations of him known and we found this this one (winged figure pictured on the left).
According to ancient Greeks, Kairos was the god of the “fleeting moment,” “a favorable yet fleeting opportunity to be grasped (personified by the tuft of hair on Kairos’ forehead). If you miss the opportunity, the moment is gone and cannot be re-captured (personified by the back of Kairos’ head being bald).
The image of hair hanging on the forehead and a bald back of neck was associated in Roman times with the goddess Fortuna, the personification of good and bad luck. She is referred to by one author in the following: “Don’t let that what you consider good for you pass by; chance has hair over her forehead, but behind she’s bald.”
The famous motto “Carpe Diem” (Seize the day) is the same idea — and this same theme turns up again in The Wheel of Fortune which continuously rotates. This all sounds as familiar as “Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may” which has long been my philosophy. Do it now. Go for it. Don’t miss the opportunity. Open your eyes. Wake up. It is all there for the taking. Life is NOW. Live!
We are agreed. I just have to make my own Kairos statue in clay and have a friend fire it in her kiln. Don’t know when I shall have time though as we have seized the chance to take a trip to Barcelona for a week – to visit more Roman sites. Who knows what Lady Luck will show us while we are there?!
I leave you with this thought culled from an inscription on a wall in Dubrovnik museum: “Vita Peregrinatio – fugaces dies” (Life is a journey – the days fly by).
Seize the day, people, and vaya con los dios!
Note on the Article’s Title
My title is taken from this Irish House Blessing prayer which used to be sung by aspiring tenors:
“Bless this house, O Lord, we pray, make it safe by night and day; Bless these walls, so firm and stout that keep want and trouble out: Bless the roof and chimney tall, let thy peace lie over all. Bless the door that it may prove ever open to joy and love. Bless these windows, shining bright, letting in God’s heavenly light; Bless the folk who dwell within, keep them pure and free from sin. Bless us that one day we may dwell, O Lord with Thee.”
Further Reading
Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Gerome Carcopino
Daily Life in Pompeii by Mary Beard
Pompeii by Robert Harris
Photo Credits
“Shrine in the House of the Vetti – Pompeii”
“Where St Paul was converted” © J McLean”
“Diana/Artemis/Cybele”
“Shrine to household spirit” © J McLean
“Canadian Spirit”
“Kairos”
.
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