The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden: Religion and Art at the Roman Street Corner

The most pervasive gods in ancient Rome aren’t the ones you think of, like Neptune or Artemis or Jupiter. Instead, they were known as the lares, a cheerful pair of dancing gods worshipped by ordinary Romans—often by slaves and freedmen. Harriet Flower examines these pervasive and overlooked gods in The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden (Princeton University Press), arguing that they are gods of place, benevolent protectors of the household.