Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

VIIl] Roman Genius of the Penus 301
much the same. Timaios the historian expresses himself thus as to their
form and appearance. The sacred things deposited in the adyta at Lavinium
are Kerykeia of iron and bronze and Trojan pottery, and he said that he
learnt this from the natives of the place.
The house-snake of the Romans as guardian of the penus is far
more familiar to us than the Agathos Daimon or Zeus Ktesios
of the Greek storeroom. He appears on countless Graeco-Roman
wall-paintings. A good instance is given in Fig. 80 \ We have
Fig. 80.
the facade of a house in temple-form—the pediment decorated
with sacrificial gear, a boucranium, a patera, a sacrificial knife.
Within, supposed no doubt to be within the penetralia, are the
1 From the photograph of a Pompeiau wall-painting.