Penates

Pĕnātes, ĭum (Penatis singulariter Labeo Antistius posse dici putat, quia pluraliter Penates dicuntur, cum patiatur proportio etiam Penas dici, ut optimas, primas, Antias, Fest. p. 253 Müll. But the singular is never used; and for Δενας = Πενας, which some assume in Dion. Hal. 1, 68, it is probably most correct to read ΔIS ΜΑΓΝΙΣ, v. Ambrosch, Studien und Andeut. vol. i. p. 231 sq.—Acc. plur. PENATEIS, perh. Tab. Bant. lin. 22), m. [from the root pa, whence pascor, pabulum, pānis; also penus, and, through the notion of a storehouse or inner chamber, also penes, penetro; v. Curt. Gr. Etym. p. 270 sq.; cf. Corss. Ausspr. 1, p. 425 sq.].

• I Lit., the Penates, old Latin guardian deities of the household, and of the state formed of a union of households, whose seat was originally in Lavinium; usually connected with di: IN VELIA APVD AEDEM DEVM PENATIVM, Inscr. Varr. L. L. 5, § 54 Müll.; cf.: aedes deorum Penatium in Veliā, Liv. 45, 16: AEDEM DEVM PENATIVM IN VELIA, Monum. Ancyr.: di Penates, Plaut. Merc. 5, 1, 5 (834) sq.: in mensā Penatium deorum, Naev. ap. Prob. Verg. E. 6, 31: sanctis Penatium deorum Larumque familiarium sedibus, Cic. Rep. 5, 5, 7; id. Deiot. 5, 15: MENS. IANVAR. SACRIFICANT. DIS. PENATIBVS, Calend. Farnes. ap. Inscr. Orell. 2, p. 380: v. s. Inscr. Orell. 1677; cf. ib. 1675 and 1678: DIIS. DEABVS PENATIBVS FAMILIARIBVS ET IOVI CETERISQVE DIIBVS, ib. 2118.—Without di: vos Penates patriique dii, Cic. Sest. 20, 45: Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penatis, Verg. A. 1, 68; 5, 62: impudens liqui patrios Penatis, Hor. C. 3, 27, 49: hostia Mollivit aversos Penates, id. ib. 3, 23, 19: iniqui, id. ib. 2, 4, 15: profugos posuistis Penates, Ov. M. 3, 539; 9, 445; id. Tr. 1, 3, 45: IVNIANI, Inscr. Orell. 1587; cf., respecting the Penates, Cic. N. D. 2, 27, 68; Varr. and Nigid. ap. Arn. 3, 123; Macr. 3, 4; Serv. Verg. A. 2, 296 and 325.—
• II Transf., a dwelling, home, hearth (cf. Lares, II.): Quintius a suis dis penatibus praeceps ejectus, Cic. Quint. 26, 83; id. Rosc. Am. 8, 23: nostris succede penatibus hospes, Verg. A. 8, 123: ferro Libycos populare penates, id. ib. 1, 527: conducti penates, Mart. 8, 75, 1: sub uno tecto esse atque ad eosdem penates, Liv. 28, 18.—Hence, poet., of the hearth: flammis adolere penatis, Verg. A. 1, 704.— Also, of the cells of bees, Verg. G. 4, 155; of the temple of a god, Stat. Th. 1, 643.

Pena'tes

the household gods of the Romans, both in regard to a private family and to the state, as the great family of citizens : hence we shall have to distinguish between private and public Penates. The name is unquestionably connected with penus, they being the gods who were worshipped, and whose images were kept in the central part of the house, or the penetralia, and who thus protected the whole household. (Isidor. Orig. 8.11; Fest. s. vv. Penetralia, Penus.) The Greeks, when speaking of the Roman Penates, called them θεοὶ πατρῷοι, γενέθλιοι, κτήσιοι, μύχιοι, ἕρκιοι. (Dionys. A. R. 1.67.) The Lares therefore were included among the Penates; both names, in fact, are often used synonymously (Schol. ad Horat. Epod. 2.43; Plaut. Mler. 5.1. 5; Aulul. 2.8. 16; Plin. Nat. 28.20), and the figures of two youths whom Dionysius (1.68) saw in the temple of the Penates, were no doubt the same as the Lares praestites, that is, the twin founders of the city of Rome. The Lares, however, though they may be regarded as identical with the Penates, were yet not the only Penates, for each family had usually no more than one Lar, whereas the Penates are always spoken of in the plural. (Plaut. Mere. 5.1. 5.) Now considering that Jupiter and Juno were regarded as the protectors and the promoters of happiness, peace, and concord in the family, and that Jupiter is not only called a deus penetralis (Fest. s. v. Herceus), but that sacrifices were offered to him on the hearth along with the Lares, there can be little doubt but that Jupiter and Juno too were worshipped as Penates. Vesta also is reckoned among the Penates (Serv. ad Aen. 2.297; Macr. 3.4; Ov. Met. 15.864), for each hearth, being the symbol of domestic union, had its Vesta. All other Penates, both public and private, seem to have consisted of certain sacred relics connected with indefinite divinities, and hence the expression of Varro, that the number and names of the Penates were indefinite (apud Arnob, 3.40; Macrob. l.c. ; Isid. Orig. 8.11). This statement of a great antiquarian might have deterred any one from entering upon any further investigation; but some have nevertheless ventured upon the wide field of speculation, and conjectured that the Penates were Neptune and Apollo, because these divinities had surrounded Troy with walls. According to this view the Penates were the sacred relics that were believed to have been brought from Troy to Italy (Arnob. 3.40; Macrob. l.c.) According to an Etruscan opinion the Penates were four in number, or divided into four classes, viz. Jupiter and his suite, Neptune and his train, and the gods of the uper and lower worlds; but this opinion is certainly based upon a view of the Penates which is different from that entertained by the Romans. Others again believed that the Penates were those divinities who were the representatives of the vital principle in man and nature, that is, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, to whom Tarquinius built a common temple on the Capitol; and as Tarquinius was believed to have been initiated in the Samothracian mysteries, the Penates were identified with the great gods of Sanmothrace. This was accounted for by the supposition that the Trojan Penates who had been brought to Italy, had been introduced at Troy from Samothrace. (Dionys. A. R. 1.68.; Serv. ad Aen. 2.325, 3.148; Macrob. l.c.) But all these opinions and conjectures are of little value. The public Penates of the city of Rome had a chapel somewhere about the centre of the city, in a place called sub felia. They were represented as two youths with lances in their hands, and similar images of them existed in many other sanctuaries. (Dionys. A. R. 1.68; Liv. 45.16.) Lavinium, the central point of Latium, too, had the Penates, who had been brought by Aeneas from Troy (Varr. De L. L. 5.144; Dionys. A. R. 1.67), and every Roman consul, dictator, and praetor, immediately after entering upon his office, was bound to offer up a sacrifice to the Penates and Vesta at Lanu-vium (Macr. 3.4.)

As the public Lares were worshipped in the central part of the city or country, and at the public hearth, so the private Penates had their place at the hearth of every house; but not only the hearth was sacred to them, but the table also. On the hearth a perpetual fire was kept up in their honour, and the table always contained the salt-cellar and the firstlings of fruit for these divinities. (Plit. Sympos. 7.4; Arnob. 2.67; Liv. 26.36; V. Max. 4.4. %4F 3; Cic. De Fin. 2.7.) Every meal that was taken in the house thus resembled a sacrifice offered to the Penates, beginning with a purification and ending with a libation which was poured either on the table or upon the hearth. After every absence from the hearth, the Penates were saluted like the living inhabitants of the house; and whoever went abroad prayed to the Penates and Lares for a happy return, and when he came back to his house, he hung up his armour, staff, and the like by the side of their images (Terent. Phorm. 2.1. 81; Plaut. Stick. 4.1. 29; Ov. Tr. 1.3. 41, 4.8. 21), and on the whole, there was no event occurring in a family, whether sad or joyful, in which people did not pray to the Lares and Penates. (Comp. Hartutg, Die Relig. der Röm. vol. i. p. 71, &c.; Klausen, Aeneas und die Pcnaten, p. 620, &c) [L.S]

Penātēs ium, m

• 1 PA-, the Penates, guardian gods of the family, household gods: vos Penates patriique di, V., H., O.: deos penatīs salutatum domum Devortar, T.: aedes deorum Penatium, L.—A dwelling, home, hearth(cf. Lares): a suis dis penatibus eiectus: nostris succede penatibus hospes, V.: regis, O.: uxoris, Ta.: suos penates regere, Ta.: flammis adolere penatīs, the hearth, V: certos novere penatīs, cells(of bees), V.

Penātes

With Vesta and Lar, the household gods of the Romans; strictly the guardians of the store-room (penus), which in old Roman houses stood next the atrium; in later times, near the back of the building (penetralia). They were two in number, and presided over the well-being of the house, their blessing being shown in the fulness of the store-room. This chamber, therefore, as being sacred to them, was holy, and not to be entered except by chaste and undefiled persons. The hearth of the house was their altar, and on it were sculptured the figures of the two Penates beside that of the Lar. Often they were represented dancing and raising a drinking-horn to symbolize a joyful and prosperous life. The offerings to them were made jointly with those to the Lar. (See Lares.) There were also Penates belonging to the State. These at first had their temple in the Velian Quarter, where their statues stood below those of the Dioscuri. Afterwards it was supposed that the original Penates, brought from Samothrace to Troy, and thence conveyed by Aeneas to Lavinium, were identical with certain symbols kept with the Palladium in a secret part of the temple of Vesta. The Penates of the Latin League, which were at first regarded as the Trojan Penates, were enshrined in the sanctuary at Lavinium. Annual offerings were brought to them by the Roman priests, and also by consuls, praetors, and dictators on assuming or laying down office, and by generals on their departure for their provinces.