COLLOQUIUM: Harriet Flower, Princeton, Topic: "Religion and Empire in Second Century BC Rome: the temple of the lares permarini on the Campus Martius"

This talk will reexamine the evidence for the temple of the lares permarini vowed by L. Aemilius Regillus in 190 BC when he defeated the generals of Antiochus III at the Battle of Myonessus. Livy’s account will be combined with archaeological and epigraphical evidence to suggest a new interpretation of the impact of this major early second-century temple. What was Regillus trying to communicate in choosing to honor lares at sea? Given the characteristic qualities of these well-known deities and their existing shrines in Rome, how should we interpret this new cult and its temple on the Campus Martius? What claims are being made about Rome’s victory over Antiochus the Great and her general presence in the Eastern Mediterranean in the generation after the victory over Hannibal?