Crysta Leslie

Introduction

A) Introducing Remarks

The study of ‘identity’ has recently taken a prominent place in many fields of

scholarship, including quite recently in Greek and Roman archaeology. Because it

can be variably interpreted, the term ‘identity’ is not self-explanatory. In this study

‘identity’ refers to a complex multi-faceted and dynamic concept marked by fluid

interaction and negotiation between a repertoire of social identities (the

internalization of shared group norms and behaviours) and personal identity

(genetically transmitted and familially conditioned variations that distinguish one

individual from another) (Hall 1997). An individual’s ‘identity’ is therefore a

combination of a multitude of constituent elements such as ethnicity, social status,

political status, religion, associational group, gender, age and a variety of other

group memberships that can be manipulated and expressed in a variety of ways

depending on the needs of individuals.

Over the past years, research has increasingly focused on previously ignored

domestic settings in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Many scholars,

however, categorically label the houses they study as either ‘Greek’ or ‘Roman’

based on the presence or absence of certain architectural features, such as the

atrium (a room with a central water basin), no matter where they are located

geographically (Papaioannou 2007; Nevett 2002). Although atrium style houses

have been assumed to represent the typical ‘Roman’ house, there are actually

several different house styles within the Roman world (Nevett 2002; Metraux,

1999). The Island of Delos, which had a well attested significant Roman

population, contained not one atrium house, yet it is undisputed that self-identified

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Romans occupied at least some of the houses. Moreover, simply employing ethnic

markers such as ‘Greek’ or ‘Roman’, without clearly exploring or defining these

labels leads to erroneously imported anachronistic assumptions about the identities

of inhabitants.). Since linking houses to ‘Roman’ or ‘Greek’ identity is clearly not

as straightforward as locating specific architectural features, I intend to analyze in

great detail the subtle relationship between identities and the domestic sphere by

questioning whether architectural layout, decoration and artifact assemblages can

be linked to the expression of different facets of identity.

My research will focus on how specific aspects of identities were expressed in the

domestic sphere during the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods of Delos,

Greece (mid 2nd C BCE to 67 BCE.) Unlike most areas of Roman period Greece,

Delos has been the subject of investigation for over a century and is consequently

quite well published. Excavation publications began in the late 19th century when

French excavators first turned their attention to Delos resulting in a very large

quantity of scholarship on innumerable topics, including housing. In addition

excavation publications (Exploration Archéologique de Délos or EAD) and

numerous supplementary articles appearing in almost every addition of the

Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (BCH), there have been several scholars

who have devoted significant attention to Delos. These publications have tended to

concentrate on cultural and political interactions overall (Nevett 2002, Alcock

1993), however, there has been an overall increase over time in the re-examination

of ancient housing on Delos, which will be extremely useful for my research

(Bonini 2006; Hasenohr 2002; Kreeb 1988; Tang 2005, Trumper 1998, 2004,

2007). No one has yet written a monograph exclusively focusing on the expression

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of identities within the domestic sphere. A few early and even more recent studies

have attempted to identify the inhabitants of individual houses based on

epigraphical information, however, these identifications are questionable and do

little to elucidate the nature of the relationship between expression of identity and

archaeological domestic material remains.

Excavations at Delos are subject to the same provisos which necessarily apply to

all archaeological sites excavated in the late 19th, early 20th centuries; that is a lack

of careful and systematic excavation and recording techniques, leading to

substantially different quantities of recorded information throughout the site.

Since this problem exists for almost all previously excavated archaeological sites,

it is simply a matter of attempting to identify and account for discrepancies in

quantity and quality of data. Overall, regardless of its pitfalls, Delos provides a

rich and varied setting for the investigation of identity in domestic space, and the

previous scholarship on the island provides an excellent platform for such a study

as mine.

B) History of Delos

The history of the occupation of Delos is divided into several periods, two

of which are relevant to this study. The island’s period of independence spans

from 314 to 167/166 BCE after which begins the period called the Second

Athenian Domination which lasts until 69BCE. In 167/166 BCE, at the end of the

Third Macedonian War Rome awarded the island of Delos to Athens, expelled the

Delians, set up an Athenian cleruchy and established the island as a free port

(Tang 2005:14). During the course of the Mithridatic war in the 1st C BCE, Delos

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was sacked twice, first by the army of Mithridates in 88 BCE, and then in 69 BCE

by pirates, after which time extensive occupation of Delos comes to an end,

although limited habitation persists on parts of the island for some short time

afterwards (Bruneau 1968: 691-709; Tang 2005: 14).

The housing districts of Delos are divided into eight quarters: The Northern

Quarter (also known as the Skardana Quarter), the Inopos Quarter, the Peribolos

Quarter, the Aprhrodision Quarter, the Stadium Quarter, the Theatre Quarter, the

House of the Masks’ Quarter and the Southern Quarter. Information about the

habitation of the island before 167 BCE is not well documented but it seems that

the areas north and south of the sanctuary of Apollo, the area of the Agora of the

Compitaliastai and parts of the Theatre district and Northern Quarter may have

been inhabited as far back as the 4th or 3rd C BCE (Tang 2005: 30). The majority of

the residential areas were established from the middle of the 2nd to the early 1st C

BCE and developed “fan-like” around the sanctuary of Apollo (Tang 2005:

32Through the analysis of epigraphic material scholars determined that the

island’s inhabitants during the Second Athenian Domination consisted of three

main groups: Greeks, Romans/Italians (including Italiote Greeks) and

Syrians/Phoenecians (Tang 2005: 14). There is evidence, however, of other

cultural groups inhabiting the island, for instance a small Jewish contingent in the

Stadium Quarter (Tang 2005: 63-4).

It is this multicultural dynamic that makes a study of expressions of identity in

domestic space such a lucrative venture. Since the island was clearly not inhabited

by a homogenous group but rather people from different socio-cultural, religious,

political and economic backgrounds, one would expect the material expressions of

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identities to be particularly evident. It is for this reason I have chosen to focus my

investigation of material expressions of identities on the housing of Delos. In the

remainder of this section I will outline the research questions I will pose and an

outline for the steps I will take to answer them.

C) Research Goals and Outline

I decided to conduct my research on the material expression of religious

and ritual identities and its relation to expressions of other material expressions of

identity. I will focus on the following questions: What objects, such as altars,

shrines, reliefs, and herms, can be seen to represent a material expressions of

religious or ritual identity in general? Do material expressions of religious or

ritual identity, manifest themselves in domestic settings? If so, are there any

visible patterns in their presence? Are other facets of identity such as ethnicity,

social status, political status, gender, or age expressed materially in domestic

space and do these form patterns with material expressions of ritual or religious

identity? If we can distinguish distinct expressions of religious or ritual identities,

does domestic space function to influence or reflect these identities? Do the

identities expressed relate to the broader context of the social/economic/political

organizations of the society and if so, how?

Because it is my contention that responsible and effective research

incorporates all available lines of inquiry, I will analyze archaeological,

architectural, artefactual, literary, and epigraphic data and I will employ an

interdisciplinary approach to my study of domestic space in Roman period

Greece, incorporating methodologies and theories from various disciplines. I will

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approach this study in five broad sections. In the first section I will provide a

succinct yet descriptive overview of the history of research in the field of

domestic archaeology; first generally, in terms of the development of Greek and

Roman domestic archaeology, then more specifically, in terms of past and current

trends in the research of Roman period Greek housing and Delos in specific. I will

then discuss the areas of research that still remain to be addressed in Greek

domestic archaeology and place my research within the broader academic context

explained previously.

The second section will cover the theoretical background necessary to

contextualize my study. In the third section I will present the materials and data I

will use for my study and I will provide a step by step outline of the

methodological approaches I will take in the analysis of this data. Section four

represents the application of my methodologies and the quantification of my data.

I will then apply the statistical analyses outlined in section three and will provide

charts, tables and graphs where appropriate.

In the final section of my study I will give a detailed discussion of the results of

my research and analyses. Finally, I will conclude by discussing what

implications the results of my study have for the study of identity and domestic

space as well as for the use of terminology of architectural features, spaces and

housing types based on this study’s reevaluation of the theoretical and

terminological framework for identity expression in ancient domestic settings.

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Section 1: History of Domestic Archaeology in the Greek and Roman Worlds

Looking back throughout Classical archaeology’s long history as an academic

discipline it is obvious that it has undergone radical transformations both in terms

of the subjects chosen for study and the approaches taken by the investigators.

Classical archaeology is no longer the discipline characterized only by a near

obsession with temples, palaces and other grand public edifices, gold, coins or

other aesthetically pleasing artefacts. In this section I will give a synopsis of the

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latest developments in Greek and Roman domestic archaeology and I will

conclude this section by explaining how my research fits into the contemporary

academic context.

A) Domestic Archaeology in the Greek World

Nineteenth and early twentieth century archaeological field projects strongly

focused on the documentation of monuments and the collection of artefacts

deemed aesthetically pleasing or intrinsically valuable (Dyson, 1993, 16). This

meant that archaeologists overlooked domestic structures in favour of temples and

other public monuments, especially those mentioned in literary sources (Morris,

1994, 34). Despite this tendency to ignore the majority of Greek domestic spaces

there was still a remarkable number of wealthy ‘elite’ houses excavated in Greece.

Excavations at this time tended to focus almost solely on Bronze Age ‘Homeric’

palaces, and houses of the Classical and Hellenistic periods were neglected with

the notable exception of the French excavation of Hellenistic houses on Delos

(Nevett, 2005, 1). Bertha Carr Rider’s The Greek House (1916) reflects the

intensity of scholarly concentration on Bronze Age Greece is reflected in, which

contains almost 200 pages dedicated to Bronze Age houses in comparison to the

scanty 29 pages dealing with all other time periods combined. Furthermore, her

‘imaginary Greek house’ was not based on a single example yielded from

archaeological fieldwork. The excavations themselves were, to modern standards,

characterized by inconsistency in techniques and documentation (Morris, 1994,

8). Early excavations on the Greek Island of Delos are a good example of this.

Despite the excellent state of preservation of the domestic structures, there was

little consistency in the documentation of artefacts retrieved during fieldwork,

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resulting in publications in which the documentation of domestic floor

assemblages ranges from relatively complete to completely missing (see

Explorations Archeologique de Delos [EAD] publications in bibliography). Since

archaeologists in the early twentieth century generally were not interested in

investigating the lives of ‘regular’ Greeks or exploring topics not mentioned in

literature, nor in systematic excavation and recording, the unhappy result is an

incomplete data set heavily biased towards elite housing of the Bronze Age and

Hellenistic period and focused primarily on architecture and objects deemed

aesthetically pleasing or valuable.

In the mid to late twentieth century, archaeologists progressively began to

excavate more domestic sites and describe in detail the architectural, if not often

the artefactual, remains consequently providing a more varied archaeological

database than previously available (Nevett, 2005, 2). An outstanding example of

such excavations is the site of Olynthus in Chalcidice (Robinson, 1929-1952),

where over 50 houses were excavated in the mid-twentieth century. The

excavations were published with phenomenal speed resulting in detailed

publications of architectural and artefactual remains in fifteen volumes.

Publication, however, could not keep pace with excavation and it seems very

likely that the three artefacts recorded per room –on average- in the later years of

the excavation did not represent complete assemblages (Ault and Nevett, 1999,

46; Nevett, 2005, 2-3). For the most part, the archaeological studies in the mid to

late twentieth century focused on assembling and ordering detailed information

about the architectural remains of houses in order to create typologies of

architectural articulations of dwellings based on the varying configuration of

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rooms surrounding an open court of various kinds: the well-known pastas, prostas

and peristyle courtyard types (Nevett, 2005, 3). Studies during this period often

concentrated on determining the evolution of domestic architectural form over

time (Nevett, 2001, 21-2). There was a common trend amongst scholars to assume

that houses could be studied from an evolutionary perspective; they developed

from more communally oriented structures with little internal divisions via houses

characterized by a group of hierarchically organized rooms arranged around a

central open space to structures characterized by elaborate decoration and display

of wealth centered around a peristyle courtyard (Tang, 2005, 19; Nevett, 2007).

Scholars in this tradition associated changes in the function of domestic space

with changes in housing form which in turn reflects broader societal changes.

This evolutionary approach to houses began to fall out of favour in the late

1900’s, however, making way for new ways of looking at domestic architecture.

Archaeological studies of households in the 1980s and 1990s tended to

concentrate on the architecture although, unlike in previous decades,

archaeologists were interested in how we can infer social information from

architectural remains (for example Kent, 1990; Jameson, 1990a, 1990b; Nevett,

1994). These architecturally dominated studies characteristically investigate such

topics as gender, social status, and public and private space (Jameson, 1990b; Ault

and Nevett, 1999, 2005; Cahill, 2002; Trümper, 1998; Walter-Karydi, 1998).

During this time period, archaeologists came to realize that studying society from

the perspective of households and the space they use and occupy was a valuable

tool to gain insight in societal economy and social organization. This new insight

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resulted in more varied and nuanced interpretations of the relation between

domestic space and aspects of Greek society and culture.

Houses could now be studied as a measurable socio-economic unit forming part

of communities. Although scholars of this time explored topics too varied to list

exhaustively, a few examples of the types of domestic studies shows how this

period represents a positive change towards interpretative analyses of domestic

space. Average house size, for instance, was sometimes used to calculate average

family size and subsequently the total population of a site, whereas previously

house plans were analyzed mainly for typological classification (Allison, 1999, 1).

Several Greek archaeologists at this time were involved in the now notorious

debate regarding gender segregation in domestic space and specifically whether or

not the gynaikonitis, female only quarters mentioned in literary records, reflected

the reality of the use of space (Pomeroy, 1997; Nevett, 1994, 2005). Another good

example is Hoepfner and Swandnwer’s Haus und Stadt im klassischen

Griechenland (1994 [1986]) which interpreted house and city plans within a

framework of Classical period Greek philosophical texts (Nevett, 2005, 3). It is

important to note that despite their study’s modern criticism, the work of

Hoepfner and Schwandner was one of the first studies to attempt to link domestic

architecture to its broader socio-cultural context (Nevett, 2005, 3-4).For the most

part, domestic analyses at this time tended to investigate one or two aspects of

identity in relative isolation, most often gender and socio-economic status. All

too often they did not consider other intersecting and influencing aspects such as

age, ethnicity, occupation, and individuality or agency. This period was, however,

an essential step towards the development of current methodological and

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theoretical frameworks for domestic studies in the Greek world, upon which

future scholars would build.

The late 1990s and 2000s saw an explosion of domestic archaeological studies

focusing on a larger range of topics than ever before, ranging from art historical

analyses of decorations, comparisons of regional house forms, the relationship

between the household and the wider community, studies of dining, domestic

ritual, identity, gender, economic status, political status, and household

production, to name a few (Alabe, 1995; Antonaccio, 2000; Ault, 2000; Ault and

Nevett, 1999, 2005; Hendon, 2007; Nevett, 2002, 2007; Westgate, 2007). This

was partially due to the incorporation of domestic artefacts into the analyses of

domestic spaces. Scholars during this time began to look at available artefact

assemblages as a means through which they could analyze the daily life of the

inhabitants of domestic spaces. Furthermore, a renewed appreciation of the role of

literary and epigraphic sources in the analysis of domestic space returned resulting

in studies which incorporated architectural, artefactual and written evidence in a

more contextualized framework than scholars had ever previously employed. This

trend continued resulting in the current academic climate of more holistic

approaches to studies of domestic space.

B) Domestic Archaeology in the Roman World

Many of the developments that occurred in Greek archaeology outlined above

parallel Roman domestic studies, however, because of a significant difference in

the sample sizes Roman archaeology was given a degree of prominence not seen

in the Greek world. This is partially due to the early discovery and excavation of

the unprecedentedly well preserved Campanian towns of Pompeii and

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Herculaneum in the 1730s (Dyson, 1993, 15). Since the habit of excavators at that

time was to mine and collect valuable objects, there was no contextual recording

of artefact assemblages but rather incomplete catalogues of objects by type often

not even provenanced to a specific house, let alone room (Dyson, 1993, 16-8).

Although from a modern standpoint we deride the manner in which the

Campanian cities were excavated, recorded and published, when compared to

contemporary mid to late eighteenth century excavation publications those of

Pompeii and Herculaneum represent some of the more detailed and organized

publications of the time (Dyson, 1993, 18).

Because of the wealth of information represented in the Campanian cities, the

exceptional publications of the excavations, as well as the ever increasing

scholarly accessibility of the sites, Pompeii and Herculaneum have remained a

central preoccupation of Roman domestic archaeologists even until the present.

Partially because of the intensity of the archaeological focus placed on Campanian

house forms, especially the atrium style houses, a substantial number of

publications dealing with Roman housing resulted in the perpetuation of the

assumption that these houses represented the typical Roman house.

As in Greek archaeology, Roman studies from the mid twentieth century began to

explore housing in other areas of Italy and the wider Roman Empire which was

extremely crucial for the realization that Roman housing was far from

standardized and regular, but was rather marked by variation above all (McKay,

1975; Smith, 1997). Throughout the mid to late twentieth century, the number of

regional studies of Roman period domestic space increased. Domestic research in

Roman period Britain was especially influential in proliferating the view that

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Roman housing was not standardized, especially since several housing types

identified in Britain were entirely different from the Campanian cannons (McKay,

1975; Smith, 1997).

Studies took place in other Roman provinces as well, and several scholars in the

mid to late twentieth century, such as Alexander G. McKay (1975) and Simon P.

Ellis (2000) published monographs on housing throughout the Roman Empire.

Investigations at this type favoured some provinces over others, such as Roman

Britain and North Africa, in terms of their value in contributing to Classical

knowledge while other provinces were virtually ignored. Although often this was

due to differential preservation of domestic structures, sometimes choices were

made to exclude areas from study based on a negative assessment of their

informative value. A good example of this comes from the not-so-distant past

where J.T Smith stated in the introduction to his ‘empire-wide study’ of Roman

villas that he felt the investigation of Roman period Greek housing was not useful

and did not add any significant information to the theme of Roman housing

(Smith, 1997, 3). Despite the continued tendency for scholars to value certain

areas and types of evidence, Roman domestic archaeologists at this time begin to

expand their focus in an attempt to move beyond simply housing typologies.

In recent years new domestic studies emerged paralleling the developments in

Greek domestic archaeology mentioned above. Many scholars continued to focus

on Pompeii and Herculaneum (ex. Wallace-Hadrill, 2002, Allison, 1997, 2004),

however, considerable advances in the approaches taken to the Campanian

evidence resulted in more nuanced and contextual investigations. Studies emerged

at this time dealing with art in the domestic sphere throughout the Roman world,

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although again there is considerable reliance on the Pompeian evidence (Clarke,

1991; Gazda, 1991; Laurence, 1994; Mazzoleni, 2004). Wallace-Hadrill (1988,

1994) made an important step when he analyzed the architecture of Pompeian

houses in combination with decorative elements and literary references. He

discovered that Pompeian wall decorations and floor mosaics worked in

conjunction with the architectural articulation to lead visitors of varying social

statuses and relationships around the house and signal the owner’s place within

the social hierarchy (Wallace-Hadrill, 1988, 1994). Further steps were made by

Penelope Allison in her study of the Insula of the Menander (2004). Allison

included artefactual analysis in her assessment of the use of space in this

particular set of Campanian houses resulting in the conclusion that the assemblage

patterns did not match the functions ascribed to room types by literary sources

(Allison, 2004). Studies such as those mentioned above contributed to the current

context of Roman domestic archaeology where scholars use multiple lines of

evidence including architecture, artefacts and literature to focus on a wider array

of topics related to domestic space in a wider geographical area.

C) Domestic Archaeology in Roman period Greece

Very recently scholars have turned their interest to Roman period Greek domestic

studies. In 2006, an Italian archaeologist Frabrizio Pesandro investigated the

second century C.E. houses at Delos identified as belonging to Roman merchants

namely the casa di Sp. Stertinus, Casa di Q. Tullius, and the House of Hermes.

His investigation, however, was limited to a short section of comparison with his

main topic of focus, Pompeii. Another Italian archaeologist Paolo Bonini (2006)

published an astounding monograph on Roman period housing in Greece which

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includes descriptions, plans, dimensions and other details where available for

housing in some sixty towns and cities. Studies such as these are paving the way

towards the recognition of the potential of Roman period housing in Greece. They

provide much needed consolidation of the scattered and difficult to find

publications on Roman domestic remains excavated in Greece. These studies,

however, were limited to description and do not involve a large amount of

interpretation. The major difficulty in investigating domestic structures of Roman

Greece is the inconsistency of the published materials. Many early excavations

have either entirely destroyed Roman occupation levels or only briefly mentioned

them in publication. Despite this, there is a remarkable amount of available data

for interpretative analysis of Roman period housing in Greece and several

scholars have taken advantage of this.

Lisa Nevett investigated Roman period Greek houses in order to determine

whether there were any detectable changes in the use of space and gender

relations between Classical, Hellenistic and Roman period houses (1999, 2002).

Nevett (1999, 2002) noticed that changes in the architecture translated to changes

in circulation patterns which may suggest that there was less desire or need to

monitor the movements of household members. Furthermore, she noted that more

attention was paid to the provision of space for entertaining and dining than for

domestic activities and chores (Nevett, 1999, 107-8). What she was not able to

determine with any certainty was whether the differences seen between the

Roman period houses and Classical and Hellenistic houses reflected new

expressions amongst existing Greek populations or reflected Roman immigration

(Nevett, 1999, 108).

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In addition to an article published in 2007, Maria Papaioannou in 2007 wrote a

monograph on Roman period Greek houses concentrating on identifying ethnic,

social and economic identities of the inhabitants of several mainland Greek

settlements. Papaioannou was operating under the assumption that architectural

articulations such as atria and impluvia alone could identify a house as occupied

by Romans rather than Greeks and because it was not within the scope of her

study, she did not engage in detailed questioning of the problematic association

between architectural forms and identities. Despite some of the drawbacks of the

previous studies, they nevertheless represent some of the first important steps

towards remedying the lack of attention paid to domestic space in this time period

in Greek history. One area of Greece that scholars have, on the other hand, studied

in fair detail is the island of Delos.

D) History of Research on Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Delos

Since my research will focus on the island of Delos, a more detailed

investigation of the history of research is needed in order to understand the

context of the excavated material and the extent of the data available to an

investigator. In 1873 L’École Français D’Athènes began excavations of Delos and

in 1883 Paris excavated the first houses (Tang, 2005, 29). Large scale excavations

of the houses Theatre Quarter followed from 1892 to 1894 and 1904 to 1907

(Tang, 2005, 29; Chamonard, 1922, 1, 11). Chamonard’s 1922 and 1924

publications on the Theatre Quarter represent one of the best EAD publications in

terms of consistency of reported data. However, the organization of the data

presents a few major difficulties for modern scholars. The first volume provides

descriptions of the ground plans and architectural articulation. The data dealing

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with architectural elements of houses, shops, workshops, artefacts, building

techniques and materials, water supply, wall and floor decoration, on the other

hand appears over Parts II and III in which the focus is placed on trends within the

Quarter as a whole and not on the individual houses. Unfortunately this resulted in

inconsistent descriptions of artifact provenance, ranging from simply as ‘from

Theatre Quarter’ to as detailed as ‘found in the NW corner of room x of house x’

(examples only). In addition, artefacts recovered during excavations were also

reported in EAD 18 resulting in further complication, since a good deal of

discrepancies can be found between finds reported in the different publications.

This has the added result of making catalogue production even more difficult for

the modern scholar since the catalogues are doomed to inconsistency from the

start. After World War II excavations were carried out mostly in the Northern

Quarter, in addition to the large houses of the Maison de l’Hermes and the Maison

de Fourni (Tang, 2005, 29), all of which were published in various volumes of

EAD, supplemented by an extremely large amount of articles in the Bulletin

Correspondance Hellenique (BCH).1 The decoration and artefacts found in the

houses were for the most part published in different volumes in the traditional

publication format of volumes separated by type such as ‘Terracotta Figurines’,

‘Small Finds’, ‘Relief Pottery (molded ware)’, ‘Mosaics’, ‘Wall Paintings’ and so

on. Once again, these publications are characterized by inconsistency in the

details of artifact provenance. Moreover, data from excavations after the time of

publication appear in a large number of supplementary articles making reliable

and consistent collection of data difficult. Despite these difficulties in conducting

thorough analyses of the Delian domestic archaeological material, several

1 Please see Bibliography for specific EAD and BCH volumes

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scholars have made detailed and systematic studies of the frustratingly

inconsistent publication documents. Phillipe Bruneau and J. Ducat made the first

attempt at a diachronic study of the domestic material in 1968 in their Guide de

Delos, which, although quite brief and lacking in details, attempted to

contextualize the Quarters of the Island in terms of their chronology and building

phases. In 1988 M. Kreeb analyzed the sculptural finds, floor and wall decorations

from houses within a contextualized framework. N. Rauh’s publication from 1993

contained a detailed analysis of four houses from Delos with a focus on the

relation between domestic space, commercial activity and socio-economic status.

Monika Trümper in 1998 published her monumental monograph on Delian

houses, which includes an exceptionally detailed catalogue of 91 fully excavated

houses and, unlike most previous studies, paid particular attention to the building

phases and occupational histories of each house. Trümper focused her attention,

however, on the architectural remains in favour of decoration and artefacts thus

avoiding the complicating issue of inconsistent find spot recording. One of

Trümper’s many valuable contributions to Delian domestic studies was her

identification of what she labeled the kanonische Normalhaus, which can best be

described as a common house type from early phases of construction and

habitation.

Birgit Tang in 2005 devoted her PhD dissertation to a comparative study

of the housing of three Mediterranean trading centers Delos, Ampurias and

Carthage, focusing on the influence of different cultures on the physical

articulations of domestic architecture and artefacts. Although her analysis was

broad and did not identify or focus on specific aspects of identity expression,

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Tang’s study provides a valuable example of how these sites, despite the

inconsistent nature of their excavation, documentation and publication, can be

quantifiably analyzed to elucidate information about the relationship between

domestic space and identities. The monumental effort invested in the studies

mentioned above is reflected in their continuing position as crucial reference

books for any study of domestic space on Delos.

E) Ritual and Religious Expression of Identity in Delos and the Lares

Compitales

Throughout the above mentioned studies several scholars have noted that Delian

houses possess a unique and prevalent feature. In terms of Greek and Roman

material expressions of religious and ritual identities such as household shrines,

altars and religious/ritual paintings and artefacts, it has been noticed that Delos

possesses a unique type of shrine, called by scholars the ‘Lares Compitales’

shrines. At Delos, several scholars have focused on the presence of these shrines,

however attention was restricted to explicating their significance in terms of the

corpus of Greco-Roman religious iconographic traditions as well as the historical

evolution, significance and use of these shrines. In addition, attempts have been

made to identify the ethnic or social identities of the inhabitants of the domestic

settings where these shrines are present, however, these have been limited to

uncomplicated and un-contextualized identifications based primarily on

iconographic elements and literary references. As yet, no one has questioned how

these shrines may function as expressions of identities, how they may have been

used as a tool for conscious and unconscious identity negotiation, how they may

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be related to expressions of other aspects of identity such as ethnicity, social

status, occupation, gender, age and other group memberships, nor how these

expressions of identities are influenced and in turn influence the values, norms

and ideals of the social context of Delos and the wider Greco-Roman world at this

period of time.

F) Current State of Studies in Delian Lares Compitales

There is currently a need within domestic archaeology of Delos for a study

focusing on whether conscious and unconscious expressions of identities within

the domestic space are related to specific architectural forms, decorations, artefact

assemblages, and contemporary literature. Additional questions concerning how

cultural interaction, individual agency, and wider societies’ values and norms

influence these expressions of identity also remain unaddressed. In other words,

there is a need to problematize the study of the Lares Compitales shrines in order

to gain a better understanding of how inhabitants of the late Hellenistic and early

Roman period Delos chose to express their religious identities and how these

shrines functioned to serve different needs of individuals.

The following sections of this study will provide the contextual information

needed to conduct an investigation of these shrines as material expressions of

identity before moving on to the methodological approaches I will take in order to

answer the research questions posed above.

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Section 2: Theoretical Background

As the previous chapter demonstrated, Classical domestic archaeology has gone

through radical changes through its history in terms of foci. Although a lack of

recognition about the potential of domestic structures as a source of information

characterized the early years of archaeology in the Greek and Roman worlds by,

scholars increasingly began to look to the household as the most basic social unit

of the society. The growing interest in domestic space as a research topic

paralleled changes and developments in archaeological theory and methodology.

In fact, changes in theoretical frameworks over time were both the result of, and

cause of, new studies. As more scholars turned to investigate domestic space,

new approaches and theories were applied to the analysis of households. Other

scholars adopted successful approaches thereby perpetuating the popularity of a

particular methodology or theory at a given time. Currently the field of Classical

archaeology exists, not as one coherent, monolithic and static method for

investigating the material record, but rather represents a myriad of approaches and

foci, operating under a large variety of theoretical frameworks and methodologies.

The theoretical frameworks and assumptions under which this study will operate

are the product of the cumulative efforts of scholars throughout the disciplines of

both Classical and Anthropological archaeology. It is for this reason that I have

chosen to present my theoretical perspectives by means of a short history of the

theoretical developments in the investigation of domestic space and identities. I

found it most appropriate to present this history in two sections because this study

focuses on identities expressed through material objects. I will first present the

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theoretical developments in the interpretation of the domestic material record in

general before moving on to the history of the investigation of identity in Greek

and Roman archaeology which resulted in the theories on identity I will use.

A) Theory in Domestic Archaeology

As mentioned in the previous section, archaeology in the second half of the

twentieth century underwent rapid shifts in the dominant theoretical and

methodological approaches to the material record of domestic spaces (Johnson,

2006, 20-1). Beginning in the 1960s within Anthropology, processual

archaeology, or ‘the new archaeology’, came to the forefront. It was within this

context that house floor assemblages began to be systematically analyzed in

archaeological reconstructions (LaMotta and Schiffer, 1999, 19). At this time

studies were often conducted under the assumption that there was a one-to-one

relationship between house floor assemblages and the activities performed there

resulting in misinterpretation and normalization of the archaeological record and

the use of space in domestic settings (LaMotta and Schiffer, 1999, 19). In the mid

1970s, spurred by processual methodology, archaeologists began to emphasize

that other factors, such cultural and non-cultural formation processes contribute to

the creation of house floor assemblages (LaMotta and Schiffer, 1999, 19). The

developments of the processual school resulted in a better understanding of the

nature of the domestic archaeological record, and the realization that this record

could be quantifiably studied to investigate past activities (LaMotta and Schiffer,

1999, 19).

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The processual approach was followed by the post-processual movement

beginning in the 1970s and 1980s which represented a large variety of theoretical

and methodological approaches united by a common dissatisfaction with the ‘new

archaeology’s’ positivistic epistemology and inability to answer certain questions

they wanted to ask of the material record questions (Johnson, 2006, 98-101).

Archaeologists labelling themselves ‘post-processualists’ considered it possible

and important to ask questions concerning the thoughts, ideals, values, beliefs,

symbols as they are represented in the material record but which the processual

archaeologists felt was beyond the ability of archaeological remains to address

(Johnson, 2006, 100-107).

One of the most important post-processual theoretical developments for this study

was the recognition that it is at the household level that “social groups articulate

directly with economic and ecological processes” (Wilk and Rathje, 1982 in

Allison, 1999, 2). In other words, households are recognized as the main domain

in which social productive strategies (i.e. “the various strategies that household

heads utilize to achieve and maintain desired social statuses for themselves and

their offspring”) such as production, time allocation, reproduction, socialization of

children, human capital, marriage, consumption and so on were carried out

(Blanton, 1994, 19-20). This development was followed by the realization that

both material objects and architecture are the product of social action (Wilk and

Rathje, 1982, 618). That is, the built environment and material remains of a

culture are the result of intentional and purposeful action which has the ability to

influence or impact the actions of others. Material objects are now also

understood also as active components of behaviour which have the potential to

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themselves exert selective pressure on social action (Allison, 1999, 7). These two

developments led to the understanding that there is multi-directional influence

between human agency and the built environment; while the built environment is

created by the social action of individuals and groups, the forms of this

environment in turn influence how individuals and groups behave in that

environment. Additionally, scholars now realize that designers and users of

domestic structures are not a homogeneous group (Allison, 1999, 4, 7). While it is

likely that some buildings were built by the occupants, frequently people would

have undoubtedly inhabited spaces designed by others who could potentially

represent an earlier period or even other social or cultural groups (Allison, 1999,

4; Bergmann, 2007, 240). These advances continue to be a relevant factor to

consider in the interpretation of any domestic space and one which will be

incorporated in this study. Another development essential to any study of

domestic space is the understanding of the influence that household life cycles can

have on a dwelling’s use. As household members age, die, are born or move out,

space that was used for one purpose can come to serve an entirely different

function based on the changing needs of an evolving household (Allison, 1999,

12).

These post-processual theoretical developments mentioned above continue to be

extremely relevant in contemporary domestic studies and will be of great

importance to this study. Despite the importance of the theories developed by

scholars working within post-processualism, there has recently been a widespread

acknowledgement that the investigation of domestic life in the past necessitates

the systematic excavation and quantitative methods advocated by the new

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archaeologists (for example see the approaches taken by Allison, 1999; Tang,

2005. Attention has returned to the need for systematic, processual analysis of

data. Fortunately, there is now the realization that using processual methodology

for the analysis of data does not necessarily exclude the use of ‘post-processual’

theories and methodologies as well (Allison, 1999, Tang, 2005). In fact, one of

the most recent important developments in Classical archaeology for this study

has been the realization that in order to ‘get the most’ out of the poorly

documented and inconsistently published excavated materials we need to include

as many lines of evidence and forms of analysis as possible in order to get the

most accurate and reflective picture of these past dwellings and the lives of the

household members as possible.

B) Theory in the Archaeology of Identity

The argument could be made that identity studies have been present in

Classical archaeology from its very inception. Scholars have often placed

archaeological attention in the past on determining the social, economic, and

political statuses of household inhabitants, and even on identifying the historical

individual owner. Moreover, the investigation of gendered use of domestic space

has been a very prevalent topic in Greek and Roman archaeology for decades. In

Greek archaeology, this topic has focused around questions such as whether or not

there were separate areas of the house for men and women and whether or not

women were segregated from the rest of the household. This topic, unsurprisingly,

began from the literary record, particularly Lysias 1.9.3, which states that women

had separate quarters, the gunaikonitis, and that men had a special room, the

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andron, with specialized architectural articulation designed for the male drinking

parties, the symposia (Goldberg, 1999, 142-3). Because the andron was

characterized by a room with cement floors with raised platforms for couches on

three sides and an off-centre door, which were confirmed to have existed through

some excavations, it was assumed for a long time in scholarship that there was

gendered segregation of space within Greek houses (Laurence, 1999, 142-146).

Some scholars went as far as to read gendered space by assuming that rooms

private and segregated rooms were ‘female’ space and more public, open rooms

were ‘male space’ (Nevett, 2007, 213). Recent re-examinations of the spatial

layout of houses, however, have shown that it is more likely that female activities

were monitored and controlled but not physically segregated (Jameson, 1990a;

Nevett, 1999, 2005; Ault and Nevett, 2005; Laurence, 1999). Furthermore,

evidence from newer excavations has shown that rooms in houses often had had a

multiplicity of functions and were not designed or used for a single purpose alone

(Goldberg, 1999: 150, Tang, 2005: 19). Furthermore, many houses do not have

any architectural characteristics of andrones, and therefore we cannot assume that

this room was always present (Laurence, 1999, 142-3; Nevett, 2005).

Alternatively, it is certainly possible that another space could have served as an

andron when needed (Laurence, 1999, 142-3). Moreover, when these architectural

features are identified it is entirely likely that these spaces were used for another

purpose when there was not a symposium being held (Laurence, 1999, 142-3).

Although gender was a popular topic, other aspects of identity were also studied

by Classical archaeologists in the past. Archaeologies, status, began mostly in

Anthropology and Classical Archaeologists soon adapted them for their purposes.

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Andrew Wallace-Hadrill’s study of Pompeian houses in 1994 incorporated many

diverse lines of evidence including historical material, architectural remains, and

descriptive art-historical analysis to investigate social status negotiation within

domestic space. Wallace-Hadrill stated that Roman social status is thought to have

been related to the head of the household’s standing, which determined how far

non-household members were allowed to penetrate the house (Grahame, 1999, 48;

Wallace-Hadrill, 1994). Inhabitant decorated the spaces within the house to act as

a sort of ‘sign system’ which signalled the social status of the paterfamilias and

served to lead different types of visitors on the appropriate paths through the

house (Grahame, 1999, 48-9; Wallace-Hadrill, 1994). Although this study and

those like it represent important steps in the right direction, it is unclear and

untested whether or not particular motifs and styles of decoration can be identified

as an expression of particular cultural, religious, political or other affiliations or as

a personal expression of the individual house owners (Nevett, 2007, 223).

Another typical line of investigation in identity studies within Classical

archaeology is ethnic identity. In the Greek world, this type of study is best

represented by Jonathan Hall’s publications on the development and nature of

Greek cultural and ethnic identity (2002, 2008). Although Hall did not focus

exclusively, or even primarily, on archaeological evidence, his studies have added

considerably to the theoretical approaches to Greek ethnic and cultural identity

which will be used in this study. Hall states that the reason that previous studies

had proved unsuccessful was the lack of recognition that cultural and ethnic

identity is not defined by an inherent set of identifiable objective criteria, but

rather is “socially constructed and subjectively perceived” (my italics, Hall, 2002,

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19-20). The criteria for ethnic or cultural boundaries, Hall states, are determined

by a set of socially constructed attributes defined by the group itself which are the

result of conscious decisions and negotiation (Hall, 2002, 20-1). Hall

distinguishes these culturally defined and subjectively perceived criteria from the

indicia, which may or may not be physical, and represent the attributes which tend

to be perceived as associated with a particular group (Hall, 2002, 21). However,

these indicia are not easily identifiably as being ethnically or culturally significant

because since ethnicity is subjectively perceived the indicia may be viewed as

differently significant at different times to different people (Hall, 2002, 21-2).

Furthermore, Greek cultural self-identification varied depending on the context.

For example an Athenian may identify himself by his borough or neighbourhood

to a fellow Athenian, as Athenian to someone from a different city state, or as a

‘Greek’ to a foreigner (Hall, 2002, 21-2; 2007, 338-40). Because ‘Greek’ ethnic

identities at the ‘national’ level were partially based on common language, shared

religious and cultic practices and the inhabitation of the land called Hellas, and at

the local level was based on community affiliation, it may be extremely difficult

to identify the exact nature of cultural significance of material expressions of

identity. Hall’s investigations of Greek identities represent an important

development in the study of Greek archaeology primarily because it recognizes

several problematic associations made in past studies as well points out the unique

and complex nature of Greek self-identification which needs to be taken into

detailed consideration.

Numerous studies have also been conducted investigating the nature of Roman

cultural identities as expressed in domestic space. Among these is the already

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mentioned study of Pompeian houses by Wallace-Hadrill (1994), which

investigated the expression of social status through artistic and architectural

articulation. Grahame (1998) also investigated Pompeian houses in order to

determine how architectural articulation reflected Roman cultural identity and

social status. Grahame examined the architectural elements of varying sizes of

houses in Pompeii and concluded that the incorporation of public monumental

architectural forms into domestic space was the result of a culturally defined

housing form which emphasized wealth and status where the elite incorporated

public forms into the elaboration of their domestic space (Laurence, 1998, 7;

Grahame, 1998, 162-65; 171-174). In this sense Grahame states that the use of

architectural forms in Italian Roman culture was created for the communication of

social identity and thereby included into both the criteria and indicia of

‘Romanness’ (Grahame, 1998).

Many studies in the archaeology of identities within the Roman world have

focused on points of contact between two or more distinct cultural groups, for

example the provinces of Imperial Rome. These investigations tended to focus

around the classification of objective physical indicia of ‘Roman’ identity in order

to measure the extent to which indigenous provincials were ‘Romanized’ or

‘became Roman’ after being incorporated as a province. As mentioned in the

previous section, archaeological studies of the provinces were particularly

centered in Roman period Britain and North Africa and consequently many of the

discussions about ‘Romanization’ have focused around these provinces as well.

Discussions of cultural interaction, influence and enculturation generally

accompanied these studies. At first it was assumed that wherever the Romans

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went they ‘Romanized’ local populations, that it, they made them more ‘Roman’

(Hingley, 2005, 31).

These scholars of often assumed that there were recognizable “coherent and

monolithic cultural units (or peoples)” (Hingley, 2005, 31). Furthermore they

attempted to classify these cultural units teleologically according to ‘progress’,

with the starting point at barbarism or savagery and the end result at ‘civilization’,

or more specifically, Western civilization (Hingley, 2005, 19-22, 31). These

classifications coincided with contemporary colonial ideologies concerning the

supposed innate superiority of some cultures over others (Hingley, 2005, 19-22).

This is not surprising, however, since studies of the past are as equally influenced

by the present political, economic and academic contexts as they are by the past

context. ‘Romanization’ at this time was viewed as progressive, swift, and

uniform, wherein the superior culture of the Romans ‘civilized’ the barbarian

others. (Hingley, 2005, 34). Over the past forty years, however, the increasing

globalization of the world led to the recognition that individuals possess agency in

their everyday lives (Hingley, 2005, 37; Woolf, 1998, 111). At the same time the

rejection of the centrality of the West and the development of the idea of cultural

relativism resulted in scholars who approached their subjects with a greater degree

of open-mindedness and a keener awareness of their own cultural biases (Hingley,

2005, 37).

It is now generally agreed that there was a degree of individual agency involved

in the adoption of Roman material culture and symbolism, and that this adoption

did not mean that one became Roman and ceased to be what they were previously.

There is now recognition that conscious negotiation and manipulation of both

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indigenous and Roman identity is characteristic of how individuals express

identity to serve their changing purposes and desires (Hingley, 2005, 47-8; Woolf,

1998, 111). Rather, scholars now suggest that local populations willingly adopted

aspects of Roman culture because it enabled them to “negotiate their own power

simultaneously in local and in imperial contexts” (Hingley, 2005, 47-8). Studies

in the ‘Romanization’ of Britain such as these have been an important step in the

realization that individuals can ‘negotiate’ their identities. Scholars investigating

any aspect of identity now operate under the assumption that ‘identity’ is not a

static phenomenon as previously assumed, but rather is a complex and

multifaceted concept which includes a variety of aspects which influence each

other and yet can be consciously manipulated according to the different needs of

individuals (Grahame, 1999, 175).

Lately there has been further reaction against the unproblematic ascription

of ethnic identities based on architectural articulation alone. For example

Grahame who, reacting against traditional assumptions of ‘Romanization’ and the

a priori assumption that there ever existed a static, uniform, monolithic Roman

cultural identity, advocates that identity studies in domestic space should be

conducted on the local level (Grahame, 1998, 175-6). Following this advice I

propose that it is a fruitless endeavour to continue discussion surrounding

identifications of the cultural or ethnic identity of particular dwellings’

inhabitants. Instead I suggest that it would be far more productive to look at what

the architectural articulation, decoration, and house floor assemblages reveal

about what aspects of identity inhabitants chose to express and present in their

domestic space and, most importantly, why.

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The investigation of ethnic identity in Roman Greece is somewhat more

complex and requires more subtle analysis because of influence of Hellenistic

culture on Roman cultural identity. At the same time the Roman occupation of

Greece reciprocated these cultural exchanges resulting in a complex multi-

directional ‘tug-of-war’ of cultural influence, domination and resistance. Roman

period domestic remains are plentiful in some areas of Greece, although not

generally well documented, allowing for a potentially lucrative analysis of the

relation between house form, use of space and identities. Identity studies

conducted within the Roman provinces of Greece have focused on either

classifying the ethnic identity of the inhabitants of particular houses in an area

(e.g. Papaioannou, 2007), or on the extent to which the Greek landscape reflected

both influence from and resistance to Roman domination (e.g. Alcock, 1996,

1998).

One final topic that needs to be addressed is the development of the

concepts of practice and performance in relation to identity formation and

maintenance. Pierre Bourdieu was first to address this topic in the form of what

he labeled habitus, which can be understood as variable sets of repeated actions or

habits, dispositions or orientations, which have social weight and which, through

their repeated action, reinforce their social significance (Hodder, 1992, 34).

Bourdieu’s theory of practice is attractive to archaeologists, especially those

studying domestic space, because it represented a means for the archaeologist to

go from the material to the social. For the purposes of this study, the most

important part of this theory is the idea that the material remains of domestic

spaces are not simply objects used by household members. Rather, they are one of

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the means through which identities can be formed and maintained through the

process of learning about their use and meaning as well as the constant

reproduction of the activity associated with that object. As an example a loom can

be seen as functional tool for the production of household cloths, and as a means

through which a traditional, socially accepted and valued female activity and

aspect of identity is introduced and reinforced. Through the use of the loom, a

female household member is not only participating in this activity which is

socially weighted, but is also involved in a (generally sub-conscious) self-

affirmation of female domestic identity associated with both the object and their

accepted and valued role within society. In simpler terms, identities are self-

perceived, formed and reinforced through habitual, socially weighted activities,

habits, dispositions or actions associated with a particular identity.

Despite the fact that it is now generally accepted that identity is not a

simple straightforward variable but rather a multi-faceted fluid concept, the

visible expression of which can be consciously manipulated to serve particular

needs and desires of individuals, there is still a tendency within Classical

archaeology to focus on one or two variables, most often gender and social status.

What is currently essential in identity studies within Greek and Roman domestic

archaeology is to consider both the multiple and complex factors which may

influence the expression of identities in domestic space. Furthermore it is

necessary to include all aspects of identity possible including gender, ethnicity,

social, economic and political status, age and occupation, as well as the broader

socio-cultural context within which the house was built, manipulated and used.

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In investigating the Lares Compitales shrines of domestic spaces in Delos,

I intent to utilize these theoretical perspectives. First of all I will make use of the

current archaeological canon that responsible and effective research incorporates

as many lines of evidence as possible in a contextualized and transparent

framework. I will approach the Lares Compitales shrines in a framework which

includes the concepts of identities as formed, negotiated and reinforced through

habitually performed and socially weighed action. In addition I will analyze these

material expressions of religious and ritual identity in a contextualized framework

by including other aspects of identity (such as social status, ethnicity, gender,

occupation and other group memberships) expression and maintenance.

Furthermore I will consider influencing factors such as cultural interaction

resulting in reciprocal and multi-faceted influence.

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Section 3: Materials and Methods

A) Data Collection and Recording

The most logical place to begin a discussion of the materials and methods used in

this study is the selection of materials used in the production of my data set. The

archaeological evidence at Delos in general is noteworthy for its overall good

state of preservation and variety of evidence. Public buildings are plentiful and

varied, but it is the domestic quarters of the island that are truly remarkable,

rivaling Pompeii in their remains, often preserving second storeys. However, also

like Pompeii, Delos was excavated with diverse methods and disparately

documented, which poses a challenge for any scholars wishing to conduct a

synthetic study of all remains. Despite the difficulties, the sheer amount of

potential information to be extracted from the domestic remains of Delos makes

the venture highly profitable. As mentioned in the previous chapter, transparency

is an often underrepresented but necessary aspect of responsible research, one

which I fully advocate. The following description of the materials and methods I

have used for my analysis, therefore, will follow the exact process I took in

collecting and recording my data.

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I began this project by creating a database in a simple excel file of variables from

the domestic structures on Delos. At this time I kept a very broad focus, searching

for no specific artefact, feature, house type et cetera, but rather including all

available data on every domestic structure, including those only potentially

identified as houses. At this stage I did not discriminate between fully and

partially excavated structures, however, I did note the extent of the excavations

for each house. The database is organized as follows: On the vertical axis I

maintained the division of houses by neighbourhood quarters as formulated by the

excavators and utilized by most subsequent investigators, which inclusively are

the Northern/Skardana/Lake Quarter, the Masks’ quarter, Inopos Quarter,

Peribolos Quarter, Stadium Quarter, Theatre Quarter and the Aphrodision

Quarter. On the horizontal axis I created separate fields for a large number of

variables. The first field identifies the names of the houses as labeled by the

original excavators, as well as any additional labels or names used by other

excavators and scholars. The second field records the house size in meters squared

and the third describes the general floor plan of the house including shape,

regularity and number of rooms. The fourth field identifies the orientation of the

building and the fifth field describes the circulation space around which other

rooms are articulated, differentiating between simple uncovered courtyards,

courtyards with covered porticoes and peristyles. The sixth field records the

presence of marble architecture including columns, pillars and thresholds. In this

field I also recorded the presence of pillars and columns made from materials such

as granite and stuccoed poros. The next two fields record the number of entrances

into the building and the presence of second floors. The ninth field records the

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number of rooms with wall painting on the main floor and the tenth identifies

whether or not there is evidence for wall painting on upper storeys. The following

two fields do the same with floor treatments, and differentiate between mosaics

made with opus tessellatum, opus vermiculatum or pebbles, as well as between

chip and mortar pavements. The next section identifies the type of water works

present, namely the presence of wells, cisterns and drainage systems. The

remaining fields are occupied with counts of specific types of artefacts and

features, beginning with portraits, sculpture, figurines, bronze items, Lares shrines

outside the house, religious altars within the house, reliefs, herms, incense

burners, ovens, stoves and hearths, mills, mortars, measurement devices, tanks,

amphora, olive or wine presses, tables and inscriptions.

Because I aim to investigate how material expression of different facets of

identities in domestic settings may coincide or influence the expression of ritual

and religious identity I must explain how the chosen fields relate to material

expressions of identities. Some of the fields are more self-explanatory than others.

For example I am not taking a huge hermeneutic leap by suggesting that altars and

shrines should be interpreted as material expressions of a ritual or religious

identity, that is, these objects have a direct material link to the religious and ritual

habitus of those who used them. However, there are other, less apparent

associations that can be made as well. For example, perhaps the material used in

architecture, features and objects could suggest something about economic status

and social status. For example, shrines were sometimes made of monolithic

marble pieces while others were made of rubble and covered with stucco

attempting to mimic marble, as is often done with peristyle columns. Although the

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second example is clearly of less expensive building material, an attempt is being

made to replicate the more expensive, and likely prestigious, material. The

individual who made this decision was in a (conscious or subconscious)

negotiation of his/her identity, as it is reflected by the similarities and differences

of the material expressions of those who share the same self-perceived identity.

Following this example, it is possible to use variables such as house size, building

materials, floor and wall treatments, sculpture, portraits and so on to analyze the

relative wealth of households, or at least the general level of wealth invested in

the domestic spaces. Other variables in my catalogues, such as number of

entrances, presence of industrial objects such as tanks and presses, as well as other

features and objects like ovens, stoves, and tables can be used to help illuminate

possible room function and use of domestic space. My main goal in creating these

variables was, however, to simply accumulate as wide a range of data on the

buildings as possible to later be compared and analyzed.

The sources of information I used for the creation of my database began with

consulting Monika Trümper and Birgit Tang’s catalogues. After this I moved to

the original publication sources and subsequent studies to confirm or add to the

information presented by Trümper and Tang (see bibliography for EAD and BCH

sources). It should be stated here that the original excavators favoured the

recording of architecture and features over artefacts which is reflected in the

catalogues of Trümper and Tang. Not only is artefact provenance frequently

missing from the original publications, but also often the actual presence. When

objects were recorded precedence was placed on objects considered by the

excavators to be valuable in one way or another. This selection process was not

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systematic or even explicit, but rather was at the discretion of the individual

excavators and authors. Unfortunately, what was deemed insignificant or not

worth recording to the original excavators is now what would be most valuable to

scholars wishing to study Delian domestic space beyond simple architectural

analysis. The result of this type of selection process is both an incomplete and

biased sample, compounding the difficulties for investigators. Because of this

inconsistent nature of the Delian excavation publications it is necessary, before

delving into the specifics of my data set, to first explain what criteria I employed

for the recording of material provenance, and to explain the reasons for selecting

certain criteria over others.

There was little complication or inconsistencies in the descriptions of the

architecture and features of the houses, except in cases where excavation was

incomplete. I had very little difficulty in reconciling the data presented by

Trümper and Tang with the original publications. One notable exception is the

presence of marble architecture. Bridgit Tang did not record the materials used in

construction, however, Monika Trümper’s extensive catalogue not only made up

for this omission, but went further to give incredibly detailed information about

the history of building construction phases. Because there were little to no

discrepancies between sources, I was able to record the architectural elements of

the buildings (house size, ground plan and circulation space) with a very high

confidence level. This is also the case for specific features of buildings, most

notably waterworks, staircases, entrances, wall paintings, floor treatments and

built-in shrines. This was not the case, however, with the remaining variable fields

of moveable artefacts. Monika Trümper only recorded the presence of altars,

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sculptures and portraits. Birgit Tang recorded the same and added the presence of

figurines, and some other miscellaneous ‘religious’ items such as reliefs. Birgit

Tang presented this data, however, nominally and often included no more than

counts, although in some cases she did give the inventory number for the artefact.

For these fields (sculpture, portraits and figurines) I consulted Marten Kreeb’s

1988 catalogue and discussion of the decorative elements of Delian Houses.

Kreeb’s catalogue describes the artefacts in terms of their size, material, inventory

number and provenance (although this is often limited to the building level). Upon

analysis, there was a great deal of discrepancies in the field of figurines between

Tang and Kreeb’s numbers of figurines present in houses. Because of this I

decided to use Kreeb’s catalogue for the three fields of portraits, sculpture and

figurines since the level of detail was greater and accountability was stronger

since the inventory numbers were provided. Although I did depend on Kreeb’s

catalogue for these fields I also consulted the original publications which also

confirmed that his catalogue was more dependable. The excavation publications,

however, also recorded a number of artefacts in addition to those presented by

Kreeb. In the volume on the Terracotta Figurines (EAD 18), there were a number

of additional figurines. In several cases, however, these could not be securely

provenance to specific buildings. In many cases provenance was given by block,

quarter, or indistinct descriptions such as ‘East of House X’ or “House North of

House X’. This situation occurs in the EAD volume on the small/mobile finds

(EAD 14), which was the primary source I used for my database fields of reliefs,

herms, incense burners, mills, mortars, measurement devices, tanks, amphora,

olive presses, wine presses and tables. Because of the different levels of

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provenance, I decided to record all objects securely provenance to the building

level or higher. I did, however, create separate lists of objects when the

description identified the provenance as ‘House in Direction X of House X’, after

which I attempted to identify which house these descriptions referred to. There

were only a few cases where I could (with an acceptable level of confidence)

assign these descriptions to actual buildings, which are as follows:

1) “House West of House of Inopos” = Inopos B

2) “House West of the court of the Establishment of the Poseidoniasts of
Beirut” = House D West of Poseidoniasts
3) “House SW of the court of the Establishment of the Poseidoniasts of
Beirut” = House D West of Poseidoniasts
4) “House South of Theatre” and “Large House SE of Theatre” = Hotellerie2
5) “House West of House of Cleopatra” = Theatre III J
6) “House North of House of Dionysos” = Theatre VI M
7) “House East of Old Sarapeion” and “House East of Sarapeion A” =
Inopos C (Maison a une seule colonne)
8) “House East of House of Kerdon A’” = House of Kerdon 2 )3
9) “House North of House of Kerdon” = Peribolos House B

In cases 1, 3 through 7and 9, I am operating under the assumption that the

excavators meant the house nearest in the direction of the reference house. This is

somewhat risky, since I cannot determine with absolute certainty whether this was

the actual intention of those recording the provenance, however, I feel it is a risk

worth taking. Far too many studies disregard data such as this exactly because it is

complicated to use. Being able to attribute artefacts to buildings, however, allows

for a more complete sample which attempts to take into account objects

provenanced at a variety of levels. In the aim of transparency of research, I have

maintained a separation of the objects recorded for the above nine cases.

Before moving on to the results of my data collection, I must first mention a few

object types which need further consideration. Firstly, I have not recorded the
2 Only Building to the South or South-East of the Theatre
3 Part of same building, division of space into two separate units.

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Crysta Leslie

presence of portable stoves/braziers because the excavators have noted in several

different volumes that at least fragments of these objects were found in every

house on the island. While this may not exactly be true, they were prevalent

enough that they were not recorded except for in certain circumstances, such as

during the initial discovery of a new “Delian” type and when intact specimens

were recovered. Because of this I am operating under the assumption that this was

the primary means of meal preparation and possibly also heating on the island of

Delos, and thus have recorded only when alternatives to this medium are found

(namely hearths and built-in stoves and ovens). Similarly, basins were found in

nearly every house and accordingly I am working under the assumption that all

households would need some means of transporting and storing water from

cisterns and wells for daily use. I am therefore assuming that basins of varied

materials would serve this function, as was commonly the case during most

periods of Greek and Roman history.

The final class of objects that require some additional discussion are religious and

ritual objects. A common feature immediately identifiable upon investigation of

Delian domestic space is the presence of altars outside of houses house to one or

both sides of an entrance. These altars are built of varying materials from

monolithic marble to stuccoed masonry and most often painted with a variety of

scenes which are agreed to be ritual or religious in nature. The most prevalent and

consistent motif is the sacrifice scenes containing a variety of figures including

Roman patrons, household members, slaves, sacrificial animals (pig typically),

and two figures identified from the corpus of Roman iconography as the Lares.

Other motifs include boxing scenes, garlands, snakes, various scenes of offerings,

2
Crysta Leslie

musicians, and deities such as Herakles and Pan/Satyr type figures. Paintings and

niches on the walls above these altars are also a common occurrence and represent

the same general spectrum of motifs. These I will refer to as ‘Lares Shrines’ or

‘Lares Compitales Shrines’ and will discuss them further in my results and

discussion sections.

Lares Shrines are to be distinguished from ‘altars’, which is the term I will

employ for all other altars, with or without decoration, that are found within the

confines of the domestic space, whether built in or portable. These altars take on a

variety of forms including quadrangular, cylindrical and other, and may be made

from a variety of materials, marble and rubble masonry being the most common.

A complicating issue arises with altars because there is some evidence to suggest

that altars may be re-used as building material and may serve secondary functions

aside from ritual. In a few cases there are cylindrical altars decorated with

garlands and bucranes which were re-used as well-heads for cisterns. For the most

part, however, it is obvious when these altars are being re-used since they have

been clearly altered for these secondary uses (these cases have been recorded in

my catalogue).

The final religious/ritual objects to be addressed are reliefs, herms and incense

burners. Only certain types of reliefs can be attributed as ritual items with any

confidence. There is a large variety of reliefs in Delian domestic contexts, as

elsewhere in both the Greek and Roman worlds. The reliefs that I determined

were potentially religiously or ritually significant are divided into three broad

categories for later analysis. The first type can be described as ‘event reliefs’ and

represent scenes such as banquets, rituals, and sacrifices. The second category

3
Crysta Leslie

contains or objects such as phalloi, piloi, clubs, omphaloi, and so on, while the

last category consists of reliefs of deities. There is little certainty, however, about

the function and use of reliefs such as these. For example, it has been noted that

phallic symbols may be a sort of apotropaic object, meant to ward off potential

harm or danger, or they may represent sign posts for brothels or they may be

related to forms of fertility, either reproductive or agricultural, or may simply be a

form of decoration. The same multiplicity of interpretations can be applied to all

reliefs mentioned above and because of this, reliefs on their own will not be taken

as an expression of religious identity but will be looked at in terms of what types

of artefacts, features and architectural elements, if any, they are associated with.

Like reliefs, herms may be interpreted in a variety of ways. They are found in

both Greek and Roman contexts and therefore cannot be used as indicia of ethnic

identity. Additionally, herms may serve a ritual or decorative purpose and so do

not suggest anything about the ritual or religious identities of inhabitants. Herms

are still of value to this study since, as mentioned above, the presence of sculpture

and/or use of marble may be looked at for its value in terms of expressions and

displays of wealth and aesthetic values. I will not, therefore, analyze herms as an

expression of religious or ritual identity, but rather will incorporate them into the

overall contextual analysis of the houses.

Incense burners are not a frequent occurrence in Delos and take a different form

from other areas of the Greek and Roman world, although not unique. Delian

incense burners resemble small replicas of the quadrangular or circular altars

discussed above. These incense burners are found in various sizes and because of

this it is difficult to distinguish between them and their larger counterparts

4
Crysta Leslie

resulting in different identifications for the same artefact. Since it is not clear

whether these incense burners serve a similar or different function from the larger

altars, I have decided to keep those artefacts described as incense burners in a

separate category from the altars in order to analyze the contexts of their presence

in relation to other objects, features and architecture.

Because of the above mentioned complications with classes of artefacts and

because the focus of this study is to analyze the relationship between material

objects and identities, I decided to focus on one class of objects that lends itself to

multiple and detailed analyses. Upon consideration of the objects, features, and

architecture collected in my database fields, I decided to concentrate on the Lares

Compitales shrines. These features were built for a specific purpose, incorporated

into the exterior architecture of the house in a location of interaction between

household members and outsiders. Furthermore, previous attempts to study the

Lares shrines of Delos have either concentrated on the iconography of the shrines,

have attempted to identify the social status or ethnic identity of individuals

associated with the shines, or have made blanket statements about the widespread

and random nature of their distribution on the island with little to no supporting

analyses. As of yet no fully contextualized study of the Lares shrines on Delos has

been attempted, nor have any analytical methods been applied which utilize both

quantitative and qualitative methods. Moreover, no study has yet applied an

interpretative framework focusing on the relationship between these material

objects and expressions of identities in domestic space. With this study I hope to

rectify this situation by analyzing the houses with and without Lares shrines to

determine whether or not particular architectural articulations or presence of

2
Crysta Leslie

object classes can be associated with the presence or absence of these shrines.

Following the statistical analyses I performed, which will be described in the next

section, I will conclude the study by applying the interpretive frameworks already

mentioned to investigate what these shrines and their contexts can illuminate

about the material expression of identity in Delian domestic space.

B) Methodology

After collection I began an initial quantification of my data by performing

simple counts. By applying the criteria outlined in the previous section on my

materials, I obtained a sample of 96 potential houses. Of these, five were not fully

excavated and the remaining 91 buildings, as mentioned above, represent different

data collection and recording techniques. This resulted in blank database fields for

several houses. Of the 96 originals there are eight without information about

house size, four of which also lack number of rooms. These buildings were

excluded from any of the following analyses which include the variables of house

size and number of rooms but were included in analyses using fields in which data

is present in order to include as much data in my analyses as possible.

My next step in quantification was to determine how many houses

contained Lares shrines to establish whether or not they would produce a

statistically viable sample. Of 96 houses, 33 possessed Lares shrines, which I

determined was a large enough sample to proceed with statistical analysis (a

sample of five being considered small and fifty large [Fletcher and Lock, 200,

67]). I then did the same with houses containing other altars, resulting in a sample

of 24, which was sufficient to continue with further analyses. I then created five

3
Crysta Leslie

separate groups of data: the complete 96 houses represent the parent population,

houses with Lares shrines, houses with altars, houses with both an altar and a

Lares shrines, and houses with neither.

I began quantification of the ground plans of the houses by producing

tables and bar graphs of the number of houses by size category and number of

rooms in order to view the range of the dispersion within my five populations.

This first required removing any units without information on house size and

number of rooms, leaving a total population of 88 units. Additionally, I needed to

convert my data into a nominal scale, since this type of analysis works best with

nominal scale data. There was no need to alter the data for the number of rooms

but simply required ordering them from 1 to 20 rooms (no houses contained more

than 20 rooms on the ground floor). For the quantification of house size I created

ten nominal categories based on ascending size, after which I entered the

numerical counts. I then calculated the cumulative percentages for the categories

in both house size and number of rooms and created line graphs to visually

represent the data.

Next I calculated the arithmetic mean house size and numbers of rooms for

the five separate samples by using the formula ; that is the sum of

the scores divided by the total number of cases, where is the mean of

variable χ, Σ is the sum of means and n is the total number of values. The

arithmetic mean is useful only for interval and ratio data and therefore is an

appropriate measure of position for house size (ratio) and number of rooms

2
Crysta Leslie

(interval) (Fletcher and Loc, 2005, 1-4, 36). After the mean I calculated the

standard deviation to measure the dispersion of house size and number of rooms

for the three different populations by using the following equation,

, or the square root of the sum of the

squared deviation of the individual value from the mean divided by the total

number of cases (Fletcher and Lock, 2005, 47, Shennan, 1998, 42f). In order to

compare the results of the of the means and standard deviations, I calculated the

coefficient of variation, which provides a measure on a scale of 0 to 1, where 0

represents a very narrow spread and 1 a very wide spread (Fletcher and Lock,

2005, 48). This is useful because it provides a means to easily compare results

from the different populations and fields. The coefficient of variance is calculated

by dividing the standard deviation by the mean expressed by the equation

(Fletcher and Lock, 2005, 49). Although the standard deviation

is a useful measurement for determining how much the average house deviates

from the mean in terms of size and number of rooms, it places heavier weight on

units with larger deviations (Fletcher and Lock, 2005, 18-9). It is for this reason

that I first calculated and presented the cumulative percentages of the number of

houses per size category as discussed above.

After looking at my three populations in terms of house size and number

of rooms, the next contextual variables I analyzed were the presence and absence

3
Crysta Leslie

of prestige items and architecture. The material included in the prestige items are

marble architecture, mosaic floor treatments, wall painting and sculpture. In

selecting these objects, I followed Monika Trümper’s identification of items with

socially perceived prestige value, although I did not include all items she suggests

may belong to this category of material remains. I decided that it was appropriate

to take the four dependent populations (houses with Lares, houses with altars,

houses with both and houses with none) and apply a chi-square analysis to

determine whether there was any statistically significant associations or

correlations between the presence of Lares shrines or and altars and prestige items

or features. Because it can be used to determine whether there is a statistically

significant association between variables in a wide range of situations, the chi-

square test is one commonly used by archaeologists in many fields (Fletcher and

Lock, 2005, 129f; Shennan, 1998, 65f). Performing this test my data would add

another line of evidence as to whether there are any statistically significant

differences in the presence of the prestige variables between the different samples.

It should be noted that this test does not say anything about the strength of the

correlation, only whether or not there is one (Shennan, 1998, 77-8).

The first step in calculating a chi-square test is to build a contingency table

containing the populations on the rows and the variables on the columns. The

counts for each category must be mutually exclusive in contingency tables. I

decided that it would be useful to use frequency data of the prestige items in my

contingency table; that is my variables will be the presence of 0, 1, 2, 3, or all 4 of

the prestige items. By approaching my data in this manner I will receive results

4
Crysta Leslie

that provide information about association of frequency of prestige goods in my

samples.

After creating the contingency table the next step in performing the chi-

square test is to calculate what the expected values of each cell would be if the

distribution for each variable column were evenly distributed across the

populations (what is called the null hypothesis, i.e. there is no association between

the variables in the columns and rows of the table) (Shennan, 1998, 72-3). This is

done by using the formula and is applied to each

cell. Next the calculated expected values are entered into the contingency table

and the chi-square equation is applied, where i is each

category (or cell). In other words the chi-square is the sum of the squared

difference between the expected and observed frequency of each cell divided by

the expected value. In order to determine the significance of the chi-square

number calculated, a significance level, represented by α, must be selected. The

significance level represents the degree of probability that the results could occur

under the null hypothesis. For my test I will use α =0.01, or 99% confidence level.

The next step in calculation is to determine the degrees of freedom (ν) for the

contingency table with the formula ν = (# of rows-1)(# of columns-1), which for

my table is a result of ν =9. Now a table of percentage points of the chi-square

distribution is consulted (Table A, App 1 in Shennan, 1998) under the 9 degrees

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Crysta Leslie

of freedom and 0.01 significance level. This gives the result of 21.666. In other

words any chi-square result of over 21.666 means that there is a 99% chance that

there is a significant relationship between variables which could not occur under

the null hypothesis (or expected values). Because the chi-square test does not say

anything more than whether there is a relationship between variables it cannot be

the last statistical analysis applied to my data.

At this stage I decided that Cluster Analysis would be an appropriate test to

perform on my data set. Because the amount of calculations involved in

performing this test, human error would be too high and it would take far too long

so I decided that I required the use of a statistical database package and chose to

use WinBasp. This program was created by the Bonn Archaeological Institute

specifically for archaeological statistical analyses and is available for download

free of charge on their website. I entered my data by creating individual Units to

represent the 96 houses and created Types representing the fields of variables

from my original database. Because there is both presence/absence and abundance

data I was compelled by the program’s inability to combine data types to create

three separate databases within WinBasp. The first contains all data and is saved

in a presence/absence format, while the second contains only abundance data and

the third only presence/absence data. Cluster analysis varies from the previously

explained statistical analyses in that the previous tests represent univariate and

bivariate techniques (that is deal with one or two variables), while Cluster analysis

is a multivariate technique because it is able to process and analyze multiple

variables (Fletcher and Lock, 2005, 139).

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Crysta Leslie

Cluster analysis is a classification method that is concerned with defining groups

within a data set and is based on the concept that members of a group are more

similar to another than to members of another group (Shennan, 1998, 195). It is

obvious why this method is attractive to many archaeologists since it is a program

designed to take ungrouped data and discover patterns of groups based on

similarity and differences in the parameters set by the investigator. There are,

however, several different methods within the heading of Cluster analysis and the

researcher is responsible for evaluating and choosing the method most suited to

their data set. Because of lack of space and the complicated mathematics behind

each method, I will only discuss the approach I will take. My data is best suited to

the hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis, which separates all data and then

builds groups by starting with the most similar items and continuing at

increasingly smaller levels of similarity until all units are grouped together at the

lowest level of similarity (Shennan, 1998, 195-8, 201ff). The next step was to

determine which measure of similarity I should use and I decided that the Jaccard

Coefficient was most suited to my data. The Jaccard coefficient is appropriate

because it is most applicable to data sets which have many variables that occur

infrequently so that an individual unit will only contain a proportion of the total

number of variables, as is exactly the case with mine (Shennan, 1998, 195-8,

201ff). The Jaccard Coefficient is calculated by building a series of tables

comparing the presence and absence of a series of variables between two units.

This is done by selecting any two units from the data set and counting: (a) the

number of variables present in both units, (b) the number present in i but not j

(where i and j are any two units), (c) the number present in j but not i, and (d) the

7
Crysta Leslie

number absent from both. Then the formula is applied resulting

in a coefficient (number on scale from 0 to 1, where 0 represents the least and 1

the most similarity) that is then entered into a similarity matrix and the whole

process is repeated until every unit has been compared to every other. Thankfully

this is done by the WinBasp program because the amount of calculations involved

would undoubtedly result in an unacceptable amount of human error.

Next I had to establish which criterion of linkage (the criteria by which the

program creates groups) within the Hierarchical Agglomerative cluster analysis

method to use for my data and decided on the Nearest Neighbour method. The

criterion of linkage for this method is based on the idea that to join a group a

given unit must be more similar to that group than to another. Essentially the

Nearest Neighbour method builds a new similarity matrix starting with the two

most similar units which are then formed into a group. The third item is then

compared first to unit 1 and then unit 2 and the result with the greatest similarity

is used and entered into a new matrix table. The next step is to find the largest

number (i.e. the next 2 units that are most similar) and this is used to form the

next group. This is continued until all units are in a group at the lowest level of

similarity (Shennan, 1998, 195-8, 201ff). Again this process is completed by the

WinBasp program and the results are displayed in a dendrogram. I decided that it

would be best to apply this method of cluster analysis. Unlike the previous tests,

the results of cluster analysis give some idea about the strength of associations

between the compared units or variables. There are, however, some flaws inherent

in cluster analysis that have resulted in some skepticism as to its applicability in

archaeology. First of all, cluster analysis relies on the calculation of coefficients,

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Crysta Leslie

which means that the variables are not directly compared and that some data is

lost in the translation of the variables into a numeric value (Shennan, 1998, 195-8,

201ff). Furthermore, cluster analyses have a tendency to impose their own

patterning on the data. This happens because the highest similarity value within

the matrix created by the application of the similarity coefficient is used as the

first group (i.e. the group with the most similarity) (Shennan, 1998, 195-8, 201ff).

This means that even if the highest value is for example 0.3 (a rather low

similarity) it will still represent the highest level of similarity and will thus create

a very similar dendrogram to one where the highest value was 1.0. In other words,

cluster analysis will work the same way whether or not there is actually any

substantive similarities in the data set. Regardless of the drawbacks, its

application as a tool to help determine patterns within a data set is valuable as

long as the results are not used without additional lines of evidence to support the

conclusions being reached. The fields I included were as follows: Lares shrines,

altars, peristyles, wall painting, mosaic floors, marble columns, columns of other

materials, marble thresholds, sculpture, portraits, second entrances, second floors,

herms, reliefs, tables, presses, tanks, mills/mortars, incense burners, amphora,

baths, and bronze objects.

Section 4: Results

In the following section I will present the results of the analyses I performed on

my data as outlined in the previous section. I will once again present this data in

the order in which I conducted the tests since it starts from initial simple counts

gradually building to more complex analyses which require more explication.

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Crysta Leslie

A) Results of Preliminary Quantification.

At this stage I will be presenting the initial quantifications I performed on my data

set. The variables in consideration at this stage are: courtyard type, marble

columns, second floors, number of entrances, mosaics, wall paintings, Lares

shrines, altars, herms, incense burners, reliefs, sculpture, portraits, ovens/stoves,

presses, amphora, tanks and domestic pottery. I will not consider house size and

number of rooms at this stage as this will dealt with in another subsection. The

artefact and feature counts enumerated below will form the basis for the majority

of my statistical analyses. As I am dealing with a rather large data set, for the

individual units representing the following counts I refer to my database in

Appendix 1.

As mentioned in the previous section my data set consists of 96 buildings

potentially identified as domestic units. Of these ninety-six buildings, thirty-three

possess peristyle courtyards (34% of total population), twenty-six of which were

constructed with marble columns (79% of peristyle houses, 27% of total

population). Of the peristyle houses, thirteen used a combination of marble and

other materials such as stuccoed poros stone or granite (39% of peristyle houses,

14% of total population) while eight had only poros or granite for columns (24%

of peristyle houses, 8% of total population).

More than one entrance was found in 17 houses (18% of total population),

seventy-four have evidence for a second floor (77% of total population) and forty-

four have marble thresholds (46% of total population).Mosaics of either opus

tessellatum or opus vermiculatum occurred in 56 houses (58% of total

2
Crysta Leslie

population). Of these, thirty-four have first floor mosaics (35% of total

population, 61% of mosaic houses), twenty-four have only first floor mosaics

(25% of total population, 43% of mosaic population). On the second floor, forty-

five houses have evidence of mosaics from a second floor (47% of total

population, 80% of mosaic houses). Twenty-one houses have evidence for

mosaics on both the main and second floors (22% of total population, 38% of

mosaic houses), leaving forty-one houses have no evidence for mosaics at all

(43% of total population).

Wall paintings are present in seventy-five houses (78% of total population). Of

these, 63houses have evidence for first floor downstairs (84% of houses with wall

painting, 66% of total population), thirty-four of which have no evidence for

second floor paintings (35% of total population, 45% of wall painting houses). On

the second floor, forty-one have evidence for wall paintings (43% of total

population, 55% of wall painting houses), twelve of which have evidence only for

second floor paintings (of houses with wall paintings), twenty-eight have both

main and second floor wall painting (29% of total population, 37% of houses with

wall paintings), leaving twenty houses with no evidence for wall paintings (21%

of total population).

There are a total of thirty-three houses with Lares Shrines (34% of total

population), twenty-seven possess altars (28% of total population), eleven contain

both Lares Shrines and altars (11% of total population, 33% of Lares houses, 41%

of altar houses) and sixteen have neither Lares shrines nor altars (63% of total

population). Herms are located in thirteen houses, seven contain incense burners

(7% of total population) and fourteen have reliefs of various kinds. There are

2
Crysta Leslie

forty-one houses that had sculpture, however, only seven contained portraits (7%

of total population). Nine buildings had remains of built-in ovens (9% of total

population), six contained presses or remains of press installations (6% of total

population), six contained multiple amphora (6% of total population) and nine

houses contained built –in tanks of various kinds (9% of total population). Despite

the fact that at least the majority of the buildings under study represent domestic

dwellings, only four houses were recorded as possessing domestic pottery (4% of

total population).

B) Analysis of ground plans

As mentioned in the previous section, I decided to quantify the ground floor

plans of the buildings first though an initial count and cumulative percentage

calculation of number of houses per size category. Because of lack of data the

following units were excluded from the following analyses dealing with house

size: Theatre III L, Theatre III U, Theatre III X, Theatre IV C, Maison de

Philostrate d' Ascalon, Stadium I B, and la Maison de L’Épee, leaving eighty-

eight houses in total. The distribution of houses by size category is shown in the

following table and graph:

Table 1: Distribution of Houses by size (m2)

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Crysta Leslie

HOUSE SIZE # of Houses Cumulative % of total houses

%
Under 100m2 8 9.09 9.09
101 -150m2 28 42.05 31.82
151-200m2 15 57.95 17.05
201-250m2 9 68.18 10.23
251-300m2 7 76.14 7.95
301-400m2 9 86.36 10.23
401-500m2 5 92.05 5.68
501-600m2 1 93.18 1.14
601-699m2 2 95.45 2.27
over 700m2 4 100 4.55

Graph 1: Distribution of Houses by size (m2)

A few general patterns in the data are noticeable. First, it is immediately

clear that the 101-150m2 range is by far the most common with 28 members and

the 151-200m2 category represents the second most common with fiteen

members. There is also a trend for the number of houses within the categories to

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Crysta Leslie

decrease as the size increases. The one noteable exception to this trend is the

largest category of over 700m2. However, if I was to divide this category into

three distinct categories of 701-800m2, 801-900m2 and 901 to 100m2, the trend

returns with none of these new categories containing over two members. This

trend becomes more evident when the houses in size categories are graphed by

cumulative percentage. There is a steep increase within the first few categories

after which there is a decrease in the rise which occurs because approximately

40% of the total sample lies below 150m2 and 58% below 200m2.

Graph 2: Cumulative Percentage of Houses by Size (m2)

Next I repeated the same process with number of rooms on the ground floor,

which resulted in the following table and graph.

Graph 3: Distribution of Houses by Number of Rooms

Table 2: Distribution of Houses by Number of Rooms

# of Rooms # of Houses % of Total cumulative %

Houses
4 rooms 6 6.593406593 6.59
5 rooms 9 9.89010989 16.48
6 rooms 14 15.38461538 31.87
7 rooms 9 9.89010989 41.76
8 rooms 8 8.791208791 50.55
9 rooms 9 9.89010989 60.44
10 rooms 3 3.296703297 63.74
11 rooms 7 7.692307692 71.43
12 rooms 10 10.98901099 82.42
13 rooms 3 3.296703297 85.71
14 rooms 3 3.296703297 89.01
15 rooms 3 3.296703297 92.31
16 rooms 0 0 92.31
17 rooms 2 2.197802198 94.51
18 rooms 3 3.296703297 97.8
19 rooms 2 2.197802198 100

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 Crysta Leslie

The patterns within this data set are less immediately obvious than in the house

size categories and this is most likely due to the fact that the number of rooms can

vary substantially from house to house and is not necessarily dependent on house

size alone. There are, however, some trends visible in the data, which conform

more or less to the patterns seen in the data organized by house size. First, there is

the same trend of a steep rise within the first few categories followed by a general

decrease. A notable exception is the categories of eleven and twelve rooms, which

show a rise again followed by a general decrease.

Graph 4: Cumulative Percentage of Houses by Number of Rooms

Once again when the cumulative percentage is graphed (above) we see a similar

trend in the line graph of houses size, namely a steep (although not as steep)

increase in the first several categories followed by a decrease in the rise

throughout the rest of the categories.

My next step in quantification was to compare the results of these analyzes with

those of the child populations I created; namely houses with Lares, houses with

altars, houses with both and houses with none. The same general pattern is visible

when the total population results are compared with the results of the child

populations: there is a rise under the first two house size categories followed by a

decline. However, there are several significant variations seen when the child

populations are compared to each other.

Table 3: Distribution of Sample Populations by Presence of Altars

and Lares Shrines
HOUSE Cumulat With Cumulative % With Cumulative % With Cumulative With Cumulative
#
SIZE ive % Lares of Lares Altars of Altars both % of both none % of none
under 8 9.09 2 6.06 2 8.33 1 9.09 5 12.82

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100m2
101 2
42.05 8 30.3 5 29.17 2 27.27 16 53.85
-150m2 8
1
151-
1 57.95 4 42.42 5 50 3 54.55 7 71.8
200m2
5
201-
9 68.18 3 51.52 2 58.33 0 54.55 4 82.05
250m2
251-
7 76.14 4 63.64 2 66.66 1 63.64 2 87.18
300m2
301-
9 86.36 5 78.79 2 75 1 72.72 3 94.87
400m2
401-
5 92.05 2 84.85 4 91.66 1 81.82 0 94.87
500m2
501-
1 93.18 1 87.88 0 91.66 0 81.82 0 94.87
600m2
601-
2 95.45 2 93.94 1 95.83 1 90.91 0 94.87
699m2
over
4 à100 2 100 1 100 1 100 2 100
700m2

Graph 5: Distribution of Houses by Sample Population and Size (m2)

It is apparent when looking at the cumulative percentage graph below that certain

generalizations can be made about the relationship between the presence or

absence of ritual artefacts or features and the size of the houses. First of all the

houses with neither a Lares shrine nor an altar are overall smaller than those that

possess one or both of the ritual objects. In fact the houses with neither Lares

shrines nor altars are overall smaller than the total population results. While

42.05% of the total population of houses are 150m2 or under, 53.85% of the

houses with no Lares shrine or altar are in the same size category. At the same

time it can be said that the houses with either a shrine or an altar are generally

larger overall than the total population results: 30.30% of houses with Lares

shrines are 150m2 or under, while 29.13% of altar houses and 27.27% of houses

with both are in the same size category. This trend continues throughout all size

categories where there is a consistently more houses in the smaller categories if

there is no presence of these ritual/religious material expressions.

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Graph 6: Cumulative Percentage by Sample Populations and Size (m2)

Table 4: Distribution of Sample Populations by Number of Rooms

# of total cumulati Lares cumulati Altars cumul both cumul none cumula
Rooms ve % of ve % of ative ative tive %
Total Lares % of % of of none
Houses altars Both

4 6 6.59 2 6.06 2 7.69 1 9.09 3 7.32

5 9 16.48 1 6.06 1 11.54 0 9.09 6 21.95
6 14 31.87 3 15.15 2 19.23 2 27.27 10 46.34
7 9 41.76 2 21.21 2 26.92 1 36.36 5 58.54
8 8 50.55 4 33.33 3 38.46 1 45.45 3 65.86
9 9 60.44 4 45.45 2 46.15 1 54.55 4 75.61
10 3 63.74 2 48.48 1 50 0 54.55 0 75.61
11 7 71.43 1 51.52 4 65.38 1 63.64 3 82.93
12 10 82.42 5 66.67 3 76.92 2 81.82 4 92.68
13 3 85.71 0 69.70 1 80.77 0 81.82 2 97.56
14 3 89.01 2 75.76 2 88.46 1 90.91 0 97.56
15 3 92.31 0 75.76 2 96.15 0 90.91 0 97.56
16 0 92.31 0 75.76 0 96.15 0 90.91 0 97.56
17 2 94.51 2 81.82 1 100 1 100 0 97.56
18 3 97.8 2 87.88 0 100 0 100 1 100
19 2 100 2 100 0 100 0 100 0 100

Turning to look at the relationship between number of rooms and presence of

Lares shrines and altars, the same phenomenon is again visible.

Graph 7: Distribution of Houses by Sample Population and Number of Rooms

Houses with no Lares shrines or altars are consistently smaller than the total

population and the other child populations: 31.87% of the total population,

15.15% of houses with Lares, 19.23% of houses with altars, 27.27% of houses

with both have six rooms or less in comparison to 46.34% of houses with none.

Again this same trend is visible throughout the categories of number of rooms,

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allowing a generalization to be made that houses with the presence of one or more

ritual/religious material expression overall have more rooms than houses with

none.

Graph 8: Cumulative Percentage of Houses by Sample Population and

Number of Rooms

A few generalizations can be made from the results of graphing the

cumulative percentages of the number of houses in size categories and number of

rooms. Generally the majority of houses in Delos (57.95%) are less than 200m2

and have eight or less rooms (50.55%). Houses with Lares shrines, altars or both

are generally larger and have more rooms than the total population: only 42.42%

of houses with Lares shrines, 50.00% of houses with altars and 54.55% of houses

with both are 200m2 or less; 33.33% of houses with Lares, 38.46% of houses with

altars, and 45.45% of houses with both have eight rooms or less. In comparison

houses with neither religious material expression are overall smaller and have

fewer rooms than either the total population or the other child populations:

71.80% of houses with none are less than 200m2 and 75.61% have eight rooms or

less. It should be noted, however, that the child populations of houses with Lares

shrines, houses with altars and houses with both conform are not substantially

larger or have more rooms than the total population. The most significant

differences in house size and number of rooms are visible when the houses with

either or both Lares shrines or altars are compared to those that have none at all.

In order to determine whether another means of analysis would yield the same

results as graphing the cumulative percentages of the number of houses by size

category, number of rooms and population, I decided to calculate and compare the

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means, standard deviation, and variance coefficients of house size and number of

rooms by populations. Calculating the mean house size and number of rooms,

standard deviation and variance coefficients provides information not available

from simple cumulative percentages. The cumulative percentage calculations did

not provide information about the distribution or spread of house sizes within

each category, whereas calculating the standard deviation shows that in some

cases units significantly varied from the mean. Similarly, the variance coefficients

provide information about the extent of the spread of house sizes within each

category.

As mentioned in the previous section, I first calculated the mean, standard

deviation and variance coefficient for house size and number of rooms for the

sample of 88 houses with information on house size. I then did the same for the

subsamples of houses with Lares, houses with altars, houses with both and houses

with none, and applied the same formulas in order to compare the results. Rather

than listing the results of the mean, standard deviation and variance coefficient for

each sample, I will present them in the following tables and bar graphs which

show the breakdown of all three calculations for house size:

Table 5: Mean House Size, Standard Deviation and Variance Coefficient

of Houses by Sample Populations

Sample Mean House Size m2 Standard Variance Coefficient

Deviation
Total 240.6 167.913 0.698
Lares 299.75 155.522 0.519
Altars 268.72 162.83 0.606
Both 304.818 205.88 0.675
None 197.268 160.3715 0.813

The mean house size of the total sample is 240.6 m2, however, there is a rather

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large standard deviation of 167.913 m2 resulting from the presence of several

particularly small and several particularly large houses. As seen in the variance

coefficient, 0.698, there is a significantly large spread in house size, the fourth

largest of all the samples. The results of this population will be used to as the

control group for comparison for the results of the remaining populations in order

to determine if the variables of Lares shrines and altars significantly alter the

mean house size.

It is immediately apparent that houses with Lares shrines are generally larger than

the total population with a mean house size of 299.7m2. Houses with altars are

also larger than the total population with a mean house size of 268.72m2. Houses

with both a Lares shrine and an altar represent the largest mean house size of the

four populations at 304.818m2. The highest standard deviation is found in the

population containing both items (205.88m2), however, the largest spread is

found in the population with neither (variance coefficient of 0.813). Interestingly,

all four populations have a variance coefficient of over 0.500 showing that despite

the differences of mean sizes and standard deviations, all populations have a

significant spread of house sizes.

The results of the calculation and comparison of the mean house sizes generally

reveal the same trends as the previous analysis of the number of houses per size

category and sample. The generalizations mentioned above hold true: houses with

neither Lares shrines nor altars are smaller overall than the total population as

well as houses with either ritual object. Houses with either a Lares shrine, an altar,

or both are larger than the total population mean, and houses with both have a

larger mean than all other populations aside from houses with peristyles (although

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there is not a significant difference between the mean size of houses with both and

houses with only a Lares shrine).

Graph 9: Distribution of Mean House Size (m2) by Sample Population

I repeated the same process and calculated the mean number of rooms, as well as

the standard deviation and variance coefficient for the same categories.

Table 6: Mean Number of Rooms, Standard Deviation and Variance Coefficient

by Sample Population

Standard
Population Mean # of Rooms Deviation Variance Coefficient
Total 9.253 4.019 0.431
Lares 11.344 4.498 0.396
Altars 9.556 3.51 0.367
Both 9.636 3.748 0.389
None 8.024 3.242 0.404

Once again, the results are similar to the previous cumulative percentage

calculations. The mean number of rooms per house in the total population is 9.253

with a standard deviation of 4.019 rooms and a variance coefficient of 0.431. The

houses with neither an altar nor a Lares shrines have a mean number of rooms of

8.024 with a standard deviation of 3.242 and a variance coefficient of 0.404.

Similarly, the houses with Lares, altars and both have more rooms than houses

with no ritual object and the total population. It is significant that the houses with

altars as well as the houses with both a Lares shrine and an altar are quite close to

the total population with a mean number of rooms of 9.556 and 9.636

respectively. The Lares shrines, on the other hand, have significantly more rooms

than any other population with a mean number of rooms of 11.344. It is also

important to note that there is little difference in the standard deviations of all

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populations and that all variance coefficients lie below 0.500 representing a

narrow spread.

Graph 10: Distribution of Mean Number of Rooms by Sample Population

The results from the calculation of mean house size and number of rooms

conforms generally to the results of the cumulative percentage calculations and

therefore adds another level of evidence that there is a relationship between the

presence of these material expressions of ritual identities and the articulation of

domestic space.

C) Artefact and Architectural Analyses

After completing the analyses on the ground plans of the different samples

in my dataset I turned to artefact and architectural analyses in order to elucidate

the nature of the distribution of different artefact, decorative and architectural

assemblages. The main goal in performing the tests described below is to

determine which artefacts, features, decoration and architectural elements are

more likely to occur together. It is important that I note here that the nature of the

Delian excavations and publication adds complications to the performance of

artefact assemblage analyses. Because the excavators and contributors of the

publications did not consistently record the presence or location of domestic

assemblages, there is a distinct possibility that the results will be biased in terms

of the artefacts they chose to record. This means that many categories of domestic

items cannot be included in the following analyses. I have made a conscious effort

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to not include categories, such as domestic pottery, which I know are unreliable in

terms of either their provenance or consistent recording and quantification. There

is, however a possibility that some of the categories that are included do not

necessarily represent their total occurrences in the domestic spaces of Delos.

Despite these difficulties, I still strongly suggest that this is a risk worth taking,

since new information on sites excavated long ago can only be gleaned through

new approaches to the material available to us.

The first artefact and architectural analysis I performed on my data set was

a chi square test in order to determine whether there is any statistically significant

association between the presence of ritual material objects and prestige items and

architecture. The prestige items included in this analysis are marble architecture,

mosaic floor treatments (opus tessellatum or opus vermiculatum), wall painting

and sculpture. After completing the contingency table presented below, I

calculated the chi square value as explained in the previous section on

methodology.

Table 7: Chi Square Contingency Table for Number of Prestige Items and
Presence of Lares Shrines and Altars

# of
Prestige
Items 0 1 2 3 4 Row Total
LARES
HOUSES 1 6 5 3 7 22
ALTAR
HOUSES 2 5 4 2 2 15
BOTH
HOUSES 1 2 3 3 2 11
NONE
HOUSES 16 16 9 5 1 47
Column 20 29 21 13 12 95

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total
Sum of
Column
totals 95

The chi square value for my contingency table is 21.694 which is a statistically

significant correlation at the 0.01 significance level. In other words, there is a

positive correlation between the presence of ritual/religious material objects and

the number of prestige goods.

Table 8: Chi Square Calculation from Contingency Table for Number of Prestige
Items and Presence of Lares Shrines and Altars

Although the chi square value does not say anything about the strength of

the association, by looking at the value for each cell of the observed value minus

the expected value squared divided by the expected value [(O-E)2/E] we can

determine which cells contribute most to the total chi square value. Cells 1, 4, 17

and 20 represent the highest values and therefore contribute the most to the

overall chi square value. Cells 1 and 17 are from the houses with Lares

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population, while cells 4 and 20 come from the houses with none population,

showing that these two populations contribute the most to the chi square value.

Cell 1 represents the correlation between houses with Lares shrines and houses

with no prestige items. The value for the observed value minus the expected value

is negative meaning there are fewer occurrences than expected if the values were

evenly distributed across the cells. In contrast cell 17, which represents the

correlation between the presence of Lares and the presence of all 4 prestige items,

has a high positive value. This means that there are more occurrences than

expected. These two cells provide a line of evidence suggesting that the presence

of Lares shrines are more likely to occur with all prestige items than none. Cell 4

corresponds to the correlation between the presence of neither a Lares shrine nor

an altar and the presence of no prestige items. This field exhibits a much higher

observed value than expected. Cell 20 represents the association between the

presence of no Lares shrine or altar and all prestige items, which displays fewer

incidences than expected. The values of cells 4 and 20 suggest that houses with no

altar or Lares shrine are more likely to have no prestige items than all of them.

Another interpretation of these results is possible, however. The correlation could

be interpreted inversely. Houses with more prestige goods are more likely to have

a Lares shrine, than houses with no prestige items. While this may seem at first to

mean the same thing, there is a significant difference in which category predicts

the presence of the other. Chi-square tests, however, cannot provide an answer to

which category influences the other but can only provide evidence that there is a

correlation.

The final statistical test I performed, with the assistance of the statistical

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package Winbasp is cluster analysis. As I mentioned in the previous section on

methodology, hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis separates data and then

builds groups based on similarity by grouping the most similar items together, and

continuing at increasingly smaller levels finally grouping all items together at the

lowest level of similarity. The artefacts and features included in my cluster

analysis are: peristyles, wall painting, columns made of marble, columns made of

other material, marble thresholds, second entrances, Lares shrines, altars, reliefs,

herms, incense burners, sculpture, portraits, figurines, bronze items, presses,

mills/mortars, tanks, ovens, amphora and tables. The main purpose in performing

this test is to determine which of these categories group together based on the

similarity of where they occur (i.e. in which houses) In addition, this test will help

determine what types of artefacts and features occur in association with Lares

shrines and altars, adding valuable contextual information about the setting of

these material expressions of ritual/religious identities.

Graph 11: Dendrogram of Cluster Analysis

The results of the cluster analysis more or less conform to the results of the

chi square analysis. At level five, the highest level of similarity, mosaics, marble

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columns, marble thresholds and sculpture are grouped together, revealing that

these items are most likely to occur together. At level four, Lares shrines,

peristyles, wall painting, reliefs and columns made from materials other than

marble join the items from group five. These results are quite significant. Similar

to the chi square analysis these results reveal that prestige items are likely to occur

in association with Lares shrines. Additionally, the results of the levels of

similarity four and five show that prestige items such as marble architecture,

sculpture, mosaics and wall painting occur together more often than they occur

with other items or features. It is also interesting that altars do not enter into the

cluster analysis until level three and are most similar to second entrances, incense

burners, tanks, mills/mortars, herms, tables and portraits. It is also interesting that

altars occur together with herms and incense burners at level three, while at level

four Lares shrines occur with reliefs. These results suggest that there may be a

division in the distribution of different types of material expressions of religious

or ritual identities. Lares shrines and reliefs are more likely to occur together in

association with prestige items, while altars, herms and incense burners occur in

contexts associated with items of domestic industry such as tanks and

mills/mortars. Moreover, altars, herms and incense burners are also grouped with

secondary entrances. Perhaps this may suggest that the domestic spaces where

altars, herms, incense burners, tanks, mills/mortars and secondary entrances occur

had additional functions aside from simply housing.

D) Summary of Statistical Analyses Results

The results of the various statistical analyses I performed on my dataset

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come together to suggest that there are indeed identifiable patterns in terms of the

contexts in which material expressions of religious/ritual identities occur. Houses

with religious/ritual items such as Lares shrines and altars are more likely to be

larger and have more rooms than houses with no such objects. Additionally, Lares

shrines are more likely to occur in association with prestige goods such as marble

architecture, mosaics, wall painting, and sculpture as well as peristyles. These

results will be further explicated and interpreted within the context of my

theoretical framework in the following section.

Section 5: Discussion and Conclusions

Before discussing the significance of the results of my analyses it is important to

first consider the nature of religious and ritual activity and identity. Following the

theoretical developments laid out in section 2, I will first provide my working

definition of religion and ritual. Following this definition I will proceed to review

and describe the cult of the Lares Compitales on Delos in terms of its elements,

festivals, materials and members before going on to examine the possible

significance of this cult in terms of formation and negotiation of its members’

identities. At the same time, I will incorporate comparisons to other forms of

religious/ritual material expressions of identity, such as the altars, herms, reliefs,

and incense burners. In other words, I will explain the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the

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different material expressions of religious identity before discussing the ‘why’. I

will end this section with conclusions concerning how this research can be more

broadly applied to other forms of material culture, as well as comment on further

research needed to fully make use of this type of study.

A) Definition and Theory of Religion and Ritual

The following working definition of religion and ritual closely follows the

theory of practice of identity formation and maintenance as developed by

Bourdieu and elaborated by Stanley J Stowers (2008). This definition first

postulates that religion consists of actions and practices of various human groups

involving imagined participation or involvement of culturally defined gods or

non-observable beings, representations and interpretations of phenomena

occurring in the observable world (Stowers, 2008, 7-8). The actions and practices

involved have social weight because individuals who participate in the action and

those who do not both assign value to the practices. Repetition confirms and

reinforces the social significance of the practices. Because they are considered

socially valuable the repetition of these practices construct the overarching ideas,

meanings, concepts, purposes and goals of the religion (Stowers, 2008, 8, 13-14).

These constructed meanings in turn inform the practices and actions of the

participants so that there is a reciprocal influence and reinforcement of social

value between the practice and constructed meanings. This results in the ability of

the practices, ideas, myths, stories, specific language associated with religions to

evolve and change over time through changing social and cultural norms, values,

needs and desires of the participants (Stowers, 2008, 14). Shared participation in

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the practices and constructed meanings, which have social value, also function to

create and maintain group bonds and solidarity. Those participating are separated

from those who are not, creating a sense of identity and other.

Despite the fact that this shared participation creates group bonds,

members of a group are never an entirely homogenous. Within the group

performing specific religious practice "members were differentially invested in

the … religion with gender, age and freedom or lack of it counting as the key

determinate.” (Stowers, 2008,13). In other words, even within the group there are

sub-groups of individuals whose needs and values may vary from the dominant

group. The above theory is succinctly explained by Stowers when he states:

Actors inherited the practices, the beliefs, the stories, the language, and so
on, but did not simply act on the basis of rules and norms. They also acted
strategically on the basis of individual and local interests... Whatever the
social rules and structures, actors with interests in economic gain, prestige,
values, and endless varieties of desire can improvise within the
possibilities of the practices. Over time, practices can evolve or change
due to larger socially shared interests that become orchestrated in practice
(2008, 14).

This ability for improvisation is limited, however, by the constraints imposed by

the larger group’s influence. If practices, ideas or values of a religion are

manipulated or elaborated too far then it becomes a different entity and essentially

is no longer the same religion. It is not, however, only the participants that

influence and impose constraints upon the amount of elaboration and

manipulation possible.

The place where religion is performed provides structure to the practices

and creates a distinct boundary between where religious activity or ritual is

performed and where it is not (Stowers, 2008, 11-12). This space may be a

temple, a spring, a specific site, a crossroads, a door or a home. Furthermore,

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within the home, for example, it may be more specifically located at a hearth, an

altar, shrine or dining table (Stowers, 2008, 12). The ‘place’ structures where

religious practices can and cannot occur as well as the types of actions performed

there. For example, the ritual activities performed at a hearth will vary from those

performed at a dining table, which in turn vary from those performed at a public

temple. The actions performed in different religious places may not always vary

considerably, but place of religious activity should always be considered in

analyses in addition to the participants.

This theory is applicable to most if not all world religions past and present

and allows for flexibility in its application. Because of this flexibility, however, it

requires further description and discrimination of the specific form of religion

practiced by the human group in question (Stowers, 2008, 9).

B) Application of Religious Practice Theory in the Greek and Roman Worlds

A distinct feature of religion and ritual practice in both the Greek and

Roman worlds is its integration into other aspects of daily life such as economics,

politics, and social order (Stowers 2008: 9-10). Because it was embedded within

the wider socio-cultural context, religion and ritual activity was not a matter of

personal belief nor was it a distinct facet of daily life occupying a separate field

(Stowers 2008: 9-10). It is imperative, therefore, to consider any religious

practices in the Greek or Roman world within the wider context of the social,

cultural, economic and political structures.

The embedded nature of religion is visible in the concentration of Greek

and Roman religion on land in terms of both food production and personal

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ownership. The involvement of Greek and Roman religion in agricultural and land

ownership is obvious in cults and institutions dedicated to deities such as

Demeter/Ceres, but to a lesser extent is visible in most other cults as well.

Individuals and groups made dedications and offerings to various gods in the form

of first fruits and food products of other kinds. In addition many of the deities and

beings in both the Greek and Roman worlds involved protection of individual and

group property, inheritance most visible in domestic cults surrounding

Hestia/Vesta, forms of Zeus (most notably Ktesios; of the possessions), the Lares,

the Penates, the Genius and so on (Faraone, 2008, 211, 216). In fact, one can state

with some confidence that most if not all religious or ritual activities in both the

Greek and Roman worlds served to ensure the social, economic and overall well-

being of the group (Stowers, 2008, 9-10; Faraone, 2008, 212, 213).

This is the case not only for public cults, but for private or domestic

religious practices as well. Although it may be tempting to assume that religious

activity taking place within the home is separate from the larger community and

its public rituals this was not the case in either Greek or Roman religious

practices. It is true that domestic religion was private in that it took place within

the sheltered protection of the home away from the eyes of non-household

members, it was nevertheless in part interdependent on public or civic religion

(Faraone, 2008, 211, 213).

Because both Greek and Roman religious practices and ideas were

similarly integrated into the wider societal contexts, it was possible for the

participants to adapt existing foreign or otherwise introduced religions to serve

their own needs and desires. This meant that participants were able to construct

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their own meaning through the practice of other religious practices because they

were similar enough to their own. In other words, if the types of actions and

constructed significances of a particular religion were similar enough to one an

individual already practiced it could be syncretised and incorporated into their

own existing set of religious practices without compromising the social value

placed upon them. It is in cases where the overall nature, practices and

constructed meanings of a particular religious practice is drastically different from

those already practiced by a group that it becomes difficult to incorporate these

new practices while still considering them as socially significant as the original

religion. An anecdotal example of this can be seen in the introduction of

monotheistic religious practices in 1st C CE Rome. The practices and meanings

involved in a religion that admits and allows only one deity was not viewed as

socially valuable to a group that had religious practices involving a pantheon of

gods and (semi-)divine beings.

There are many other ways in which Greek and Roman religious practices

can be explicated within the theoretical framework outlined above, however, since

my research concentrates on specific material manifestations of religious activity

on Delos, for the remainder of this section I will concentrate on Delian religious

and ritual practices.

C) Application of Religious Practice Theory to Delos

The island of Delos contained many temples, shrines and other

manifestations of Greek and Roman religious institutions and practices. In

addition, several cults from beyond the Greco-Roman world per se, such Syrian,

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Egyptian and Jewish manifestations of religion are present as well (Tang, 2005,

63-4). This reflects the so-called ‘cosmopolitan’ nature of the island, where

merchants, traders, businesspeople, political, economic and religious officials as

well as individuals of innumerable sorts and social statuses settled at different

periods of the island’s occupation. According to the theory of religion outlined

above, a community of this variable nature required a wide range of religions and

cults in order to accommodate the different needs and desires of the different

groups living there and this is exactly what we see. Since I am not dealing with all

forms of religious and ritual activity, but will focus on one specific material

manifestation of religious activity, in the remainder of this section I will

concentrate on the cult of the Lares Compitales.

D) The Lares Compitales

Outside the entrances, across the street, or between houses in the

residential districts of Delos, and rarely shops were shrines which usually

consisted of quadrangular, circular or semi-circular rubble masonry altars made of

gneiss or poros stone, mortar and earth or occasionally of marble attached to or

abutting the wall of a house (Hasenohr, 2003, 172). Rarely a bench replaced the

altar that held the offerings (Hasenohr, 2003, 171). The altars and walls

surrounding the shrines were painted with specific sets images and sometimes

were associated with a niche in the wall above them. Obviously the paintings did

not survive on all of the shrines, but were preserved to varying degrees, some

almost wholly intact and others leaving only traces of where the altar once stood.

Evidence of several coats of paintings suggests that participants did not set up

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these shrines for a single use but rather refurbished and used them regularly

(Hasenohr, 2003, 171).

The painted images are located on faces of the altar as well as in niches

and on the walls surrounding the altars in various combinations. The main scene

on the front of the altar consists of sacrifice scenes where one or more individuals

performed a ritual offering on an altar much like the ones on which they appear.

The majority of these depicted individuals can be identified tentatively as Roman

in that they were clothed in togas and perform the ritual velato capite (with head

covered) (Hasenohr, 2003, 172). There is, however, at least one occurrence (at

DelN26, the house west of the Maison de la Colline) where the depicted

individuals perform the sacrifice in Greek fashion with heads were wreathed

rather than covered with a toga (Bezerra de Meneses and Sarian, 1973, 79-97;

BCH, 89, 1965, 989-91; Bruneau, 1970, 404-5, 590-4). The main individual

performing the sacrifice usually has a hand outstretched over the altar and

sometimes holds a patera in libation (Hasenohr, 2003, 173). The items sacrificed

usually consist of meat, identified as pork sections, fruit and incense (Hasenohr,

2003, 172).

In addition to the individual(s) performing the sacrifice, one or more other

figures often accompany the scene dressed in short garments, often leading a

sacrificial pig or holding other items for sacrifice such as vessels containing food

and/or drink and identified usually as slaves or attendants One or more aulus

players often also accompany this scene (Hasenohr, 2003, 172)

One another face of the altar, or alternatively on the surrounding wall

space, images of pugilists are found sometimes in association with prizes, either

2
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an amphora, a palm, crown, or ham (Hasenohr, 2003, 174, 176-9). Other images

on or surrounding the altars include depictions of gods such as Hermes/Mercury,

Helios/Sol or other (semi-)divine beings such as the Dioscuri (symbols only),

Heracles/Hercules, or Pan (Hasenohr, 2003, 169, 186, 187). On the surrounding

walls of a few shrines individuals depicted in the traditional iconographic tradition

of the Lares are found. They are dressed in short tunics, sometimes with a mantle

attached at the neck or floating from the back, Phrygian caps or wreathed with

garlands and holding rhytons, patera or situle in an upraised hand (Hasenohr,

2003, 174-5). Other themes that occur are generally variations of the ones

mentioned above and occur only once and so I will not go into detail about them

since the aim of this project is not an iconographic analysis but rather an

investigation of how and why this material was used as an expression of

identities. In order to answer these questions I will first give an overview of the

nature and history of the Lares Compitales cult of Delos.

E) Origins, History and Nature of the Lares

David Orr wrote several lengthy works detailing the various types of cults

found within and near domestic spaces in the Roman world. A fair amount of his

research focused on the Lares, and unlike Bulard and Bruneau. Orr identifies

several different manifestations of the Lares: the Lares familiaris (of the

household/family), the Lares viales (of the roads), the Lares permarini (of ocean

voyages), the Lares militaris (of the soldiers), the Lares semitales (of the footpaths

or byways) the Lares ludentes (of the games), and the Lares Compitales (of the

crossroads) (Orr, 1988, 1566-7). Inscriptions dating from the Republican to late

3
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Imperial periods located in various parts of the Roman world attest to these names

of the Lares (CIL II 4320, II 2417, II 2518, VI 36810, XI 3079, XIV 4547),

however, they give little information about how or why the Lares were divided

into different manifestations (Orr, 1988, 1566-7). As a way of explanation for the

various manifestations and divisions of realms and functions of the Lares, Orr

provides information on two different theories on the origins and history of the

Lares in the Roman world. The first of these suggests that the Lares were the

deified ancestors who were worshipped at domestic hearths, while the second

postulates that they were first deities of the fields and agriculture before being

brought into the home by slaves (Orr, 1972, 5-6). The oldest known

manifestations of the Lares are the Compitales, which, as described above in the

literary section, seem to have been of particular importance to the slave

population (Orr, 1972, 5-6). Unfortunately there is little proof to suggest how the

Lares came into being and how they came to operate in different realms. There is

somewhat of a consensus among scholars, however, that despite their origins the

Lares had fixed localities or dimensions in which they operated (Orr, 1972, 5-7).

The common characteristic shared by all of the different manifestations is their

protective and productive nature (Orr, 1972, 6). The function of the Lares was to

protect the homes and fields in which they operated as well as protect those

travelling on major and minor roads and alleys as well as by sea and with the

military (Orr, 1972, 6). In addition, the Lares ensured the productivity of the

family and their fields which in turns ensures the well being and success of the

household (Orr, 1972, 6). Much of the information about the form and function of

the religious practices associated with the Lares cults can be found in literary and

2
Crysta Leslie

inscriptional evidence from the Republican and Imperial periods of the Roman

world.

There are a few literary sources that specifically mention the Lares

Compitales, however, most postdate the period in question by hundreds of years

and therefore we should view the information they provide with some scepticism

as to their applicability to the Delian context. The earliest reference comes from

the Poet Naevius from the 3rd C BCE. Naevius discusses a man named Theodotus

who is painting “Lares Ludentes” on altars for the Compitalia (ap. Festus 230M).

Because he does not mention the location, nature or function of the cult this

reference only tells of its existence in the third century. Dionysos of Halicarnassus

next mentions the Lares Compitales in much greater detail. He talks about

καλιαδες (shrines or chapelles) set up by inhabitants of houses for the ήρωες

προνώπιοι (heroes of the facades) in all of the στενωποί (either roads or alleys )

and says that the ceremonies were performed εν τοις προνωπίοις (in front of

houses/doors) and were limited to slaves (IV 14) (Hasenohr, 2003, 193). He also

says that the festival and cult was instituted by Servius Tullius in the period

before the Roman Republic. Aulus Gellius in the 1st C CE discusses the ritual

practices associated with the cult. He mentions how the night before the

Compitalia the participants attached wool dolls for each free member of the free

members of the household and wool balls for each slave to the Compita

(crossroads or where four properties met) or the doors (Attic Nights 10.24, 3 in

Hasenohr, 2003, 193).). Later Macrobius (Saturnalia 1, 7, 34 in Hasenohr,

2003,193) mentions these representations, however, it is possible that his source

of information was Aulus himself (Orr 1988: 1565; Hasenohr 2003: 168). Horace

3
Crysta Leslie

states that on the day of the festival, which occurs at the beginning of January at

the winter solstice, honey cakes and pork were sacrificed and games (ludi

compitalicii) were celebrated in the streets (Odes III 23, 3-4 in Hasenohr, 2003,

168). In the 1st C BCE Cato mention that the vicilus of a villa should give his

slaves a double portion of wine (de Agricultura 57, 2). Although these sources

provide some information about the cult of the Lares Compitales, most of it can

be inferred from the shrines in Delos and therefore elucidate little on the nature of

the cult. Turning to scholarly investigations of the cult we find that there was little

agreement as to the origins of the cult in the Greco-Roman world and even less

about the specific Delian manifestation after 1970.

Throughout the years of research conducted at Delos on the Lares

Compitales shrines present outside the doorways of domestic structures,

considerable debate exists as to their exact nature and function. M. Bulard in 1926

conducted a thorough documentation of these shrines and identified them as the

Lares familiaris and a part of the Roman domestic cult. Philip Bruneau in 1970

reconsidered this when he identified them with the Lares Compitales or Lares of

the Crossroads. Bruneau`s reasons for dismissing these shrines as a part of the

domestic cult was due to the fact that the shrines do not occur within the

boundaries of the home but rather were set up in public beyond the home.

Bruneau identified these shrines as belonging to the shrine types commonly found

in the cult of the Lares of the compita. Bruneau made reference to the two

different types of Lares shrines found in Pompeii; those within the home, often in

a kitchen area, and those at the crossroads and in the streets. Despite a small

amount of iconographic variation, the Lares shrines from Delos most resemble, in

4
Crysta Leslie

form, location and imagery, those outside the houses in Pompeii. Scholars looking

at the Lares shrines of Delos since then have consistently agreed that the

identification made by Bruneau is correct. In addition to identification of the form

of the Lares religion on Delos Bruneau worked on investigating the members of

cult.

Evidence for cult members is found in epigraphic material from the Agora

of the Compitaliastai, a civic building with several large inscriptions in Delos (ID

1760-1771) written in Greek and the earliest of which date from 100 to 92 BCE

(Bruneau, 1970, 615-9; Tang, 2005, 53). These inscriptions list individuals

participating in the cult rituals. Bruneau discovered that it was primarily slaves

and freedmen of Roman families that were listed (Bruneau, 1970, 615-620; Tang,

2005, 53; Hasenohr, 2003, 211). Most of these individuals had Greek praenomen

and a cognomen of a Roman family (Bruneau, 1970, 6; Tang, 2005, 53). As an

example in DelST2, Stadium house 1C, three slaves or freedmen of Quintus

Tullius dedicated a statue to their patron which was inscribed with a dedication in

both Latin and Greek (ID 1802; Rauh, 1993, 202). One of these, the freedman Q.

Tullius Q. l. He[racle]o /(Κόιντος Τύλλιος [Ήρα]κλέων, is confirmed in the lists

from the Agora of the Compitaliastai as a magister in 97/98 BCE (ID 1761; Tang,

2005, 56) The agora also provided evidence for magistrates heading the cult

which Bruneau (as well as Claire Hasenohr) suggests are equivalent to the vico

magistri or magistri vicorum of Italy (Bruneau, 1970, 617-9; Hasenohr, 2003,

169, 213)

In addition to the names provided by the lists of the Agora of the

Compitaliastai, names were inscribed on the shrines outside of several houses. At

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Crysta Leslie

DelN26, the house west of the Maison de la Colline, THEOGIPIASON was

inscribed and interpreted to be the three names Theog[…], [H]ip[…], and Iason

(Bezerra de Meneses and Sarian 1973: 79-97; BCH 89, 1965, 989-91; Bruneau

1970, 404-5, 590-4; Hasenohr, 2003, 174). On the shrine outside of DelST3,

Stadium house 1D the names CRVSIPVS HELIODO[…] (or Heliofo[…]),

ΠΑΡΜ[Ε]Ν[ΙΩΝ] and ΑGΑΤ[…] were written in either Latin or Greek (Bezerra

de Meneses and Sarian, 1973, 79-97; BCH 89, 1965, 989-91; Bruneau, 1970, 404-

5, 590-4; Hasenohr, 2003, 174). All of these names are of Greek origin but in this

case there is no Roman cognomen associated and therefore does not provide

evidence about the social status of these members.

The latest attempt to elucidate the history and nature of the Lares

Compitales on Delos was made by Claire Hasenohr in 2003 who conducted a

thorough and comparative analysis of the material evidence. She, however,

concentrated mainly on the iconography of the shrines. The previous scholarly

investigations into the Lares Compitales cult resulted in the identification of the

cult associated with the shrines, as well as a detailed description of the shrines and

their associated iconography. What remains to discuss is how these shrines can be

interpreted in light of the theory of religion explicated above and how and why

they were used by the inhabitants of Delos as a material expression of religious

identity.

F) Function of the Lares Compitales shrines of Delos as identity expression

and negotiation.

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Crysta Leslie

The cult of the Lares Compitales was very likely brought to Delos by Italian

families. As a socially valued religious practice that Romans and Italians were

accustomed to participating in, its presence in Delos where there was a fair

amount of Roman and Italian inhabitants is not surprising. In light of the

differences seen between the manifestation of the cult in Delos and in Italy,

Pompeii for example, the practices and material expression of the cult of the Lares

Compitales likely underwent an adaptation or elaboration on Delos. Although it is

possible that originally this cult was limited to Romans or Italians, the evidence

from Delos shows that individuals of Greek origin or at least Greek ancestry

participated in the cult. Since the cult seems to be mainly or at least in large part

associated with slaves and freedmen of Italian families it is also possible that

these were the individuals who were responsible for transporting the cult to Delos

rather than it being brought by free Italians or Romans and then adopted by

indigenous Greeks. The practices and social values associated with Roman cults

were, as mentioned above, similar to those of Greek religious and ritual practices

and therefore the Lares Compitales cult was likely easily adopted and adapted on

Greek soil. What is now important to answer is why these individuals

participated in this cult and what particular needs and desires to which these

practices responded.

In order to determine what needs and desires of freedmen and slaves are being

fulfilled by participating in the Lares Compitales cult we must look at the values

associated with the practices of the cult and the ideals and physical location that

structure the practices. The Lares Compitales are associated with physical

boundaries. The ‘place’ where they are venerated throughout the Roman world

2
Crysta Leslie

are crossroads, the boundary between four properties, and at doors of houses. At

Delos the cult is practiced at the doors of houses, a boundary between the

household and outside world. At the most obvious level, the ideal and meaning

created by venerating these deities at doorway boundaries is the assurance of

household protection and well being.

At a more symbolic level the physical boundary can be associated with other

types of boundaries. In the Greek and Roman worlds the idea of boundaries is not

merely physical but symbolic as well. A boundary can be physical and social,

physical and symbolic or social and symbolic. An example is the temple or

sanctuary. The border or temenos of the sanctuary is a boundary between the

sacred and profane which is both physical and symbolic. The place structures

changes in behaviour, practices, and norms. What is possible outside the boundary

may not be acceptable within it. An example of how a boundary can be social and

symbolic is the boundary between childhood and adulthood, that is, a right of

passage. There is no real physical boundary, however, there is clearly both a

social (the person is now a citizen and as such has new rights and responsibilities)

and symbolic in the sense that meaning has been assigned to what is essentially an

arbitrary point in an individual’s life.

In the case of the Delian Lares Compitales, the cult operates at physical

boundaries between the household and the outside world and at social boundaries

between the free and enslaved. During the time period when the Lares Compitales

cult was being practiced at Delos, the mid to late 2nd C BCE and the mid 1st C

BCE, in Roman culture a increasing large number of slaves were achieving

freedom creating what was essentially a new social class. As an emergent social

3
Crysta Leslie

class, freedmen can be interpreted as occupying a social boundary zone between

free and enslaved. The association between the place and the meaning here can be

summarized as follows: the structuring ‘place’ is the physical boundary, the

practices that construct meaning are the mediation and protection of this boundary

and the meaning and value is the social or symbolic boundary of level of freedom.

By participating in a religious practice that gives social value to boundary zones

freedmen are able to create and maintain group bonds with other individuals of

the same status. Through the creation of group bonds and solidarity these

individuals are mediating their place in their social world by expressing,

negotiating and placing value on their social identity. As a newly emerging social

class, freedmen belong neither to the free nor enslaved and as such must create

their own sense of group membership. By participating in a cult which not only is

associated with physical boundaries but social ones as well (level of freedom),

meaning is constructed which gives a shared sense of identity to those operating

in this social boundary zone which did not previously exist. As individuals who

have crossed social boundaries, freed individuals would likely have newly

associated needs and desires. They would not, however, create entirely new

Religious practices to serve these needs out of thin air. It is likely that the Lares

Compitales cult, as a religious practice concerned with boundaries, was attractive

and easily elaborated by freed individuals who have crossed a boundary. By

materially expressing at physical boundaries their belonging as a member of a

social boundary group membsership is materially solidified, in that it is a physical

representation of their membership. The material expression of their religious or

ritual identity then is interdependent on their social identity. Furthermore, by

4
Crysta Leslie

participating in religious action that previous existed, the members of the cult are

further expressing a sense of shared identity with other members of a socially

accepted and valued practice.

Although the level of involvement of free citizens in this cult is unclear, it is

possible that if free individuals participated it was because the Lares were a

traditional Roman cult and through doing so they confirmed their social status. On

the other hand, freed individuals participating in the same cult are negotiating

their social value as becoming socially closer to free citizens. The increasing

freedom comes with increasing rights, such as the ownership of property for

example, previously only available to free citizens and not available to the

enslaved. The needs and desires that this cult responds to for freedmen, therefore,

is the need to feel a sense of group belonging with other individuals with similar

social identities, as well as a desire to identify themselves as belonging to a social

class closer to free citizens. Slaves, however were also participants involved in the

Lares Compitales cult and therefore additional explications are necessary to

account for their involvement in the cult.

In the case of slaves, who occupy one distinct side of the social boundary it is

possible that their participation in the cult reflects a desire or aspiration towards

moving upwards through social boundaries into the freed zone. As the number of

freed slaves was increasing the possibility for a slave to move upwards in the

social hierarchy became more possible. As mentioned above, a group

participating in religious practice is never entirely homogenous. Subgroups within

the dominant group may have different needs and desires, which can result in

changing constructed meanings. For slave members it could be that the meaning

5
Crysta Leslie

associated with practicing the rituals associated with the Lares Compitales cult

were linked to the aspiration of upward social mobility. For the freed members it

concerned the achievement of this status, and for free members it was about

participating in a long-standing Roman religious practice concerned with the

protection and wellbeing of the household as a whole, including slaves and

freedmen. For the enslaved and freed members, a religious practice which already

existed that dealt with boundary zones would have been an attractive medium for

elaboration of meaning incorporating their own goals and desires within a socially

accepted and valued framework.

G) Results of Quantification of Delian Lares Shrines and the Lares

Compitales Cult

Here is where the results of my quantitative analyses can be particularly

enlightening. I have shown that the Lares shrines are associated with all types and

sizes of houses but that the presence of shrines increase in houses that are larger,

have more rooms, and more prestige goods. This could be interpreted to mean that

wealthy free citizens are more likely to own these houses with Lares shrines,

however another interpretation is possible. It is a common theme in Roman

literature to associated freedmen with the physical expression of wealth. In the

Satyricon by Petronius for example, the wealthy freedman Trimalchio goes to

great lengths to express his wealth and social status materially. It is also a matter

of disdain in the late Republican and early empire that freedmen go to lengths to

adorn their houses with prestige and luxury items in order to bolster their social

value (López Barja de Quiroga, 1995, 326.). In other words, as members of a

6
Crysta Leslie

newly created social group who are no longer enslaved, freedmen may have

potentially felt the need to express their position in society as freed individuals

and property holders. Additional support is given by the fact that the majority of

the shrines were made of stuccoed poros stone meant to mimic monolithic marble

altars. Inhabitants made a conscious attempt to mimicking a prestigious material

in order to resemble those made of marble. This suggests that they were in a

process of negotiation of their economic and social identities since they were

attempting to present a different image on the surface than what was underneath.

The physical expression of wealth and status cannot be concretely associated with

freedmen. It is, however, an interesting phenomenon that there is a statistical

association between the presence of shrines traditionally associated with slaves

and freedmen and the expression of wealth in domestic space, which is attested in

several literary sources, most famously in Petronius, as a habit of freedmen in

approximately the same period. However, altars are also associated with larger

houses with more prestige goods and therefore it is possible that the presence of

these material expressions of religious identities occur in these houses because the

inhabitants of these homes are simply able to afford the resources needed to

physically express their identities. In other words, a household with limited

income is less likely to invest in the material expression of their religious

identities, they simply cannot afford to do so.

At this time, the results of my statistical analysis suggest only houses with Lares

Compitales shrines seem to be associated more with the larger homes with more

prestige items. It is not possible to say with any degree of certainty whether or not

it was free or freed individuals who owned the houses associated with the Lares

2
Crysta Leslie

shrines. It is possible, however, to exclude the possibility that slaves owned these

houses because they were unable to purchase or own property on their own. One

final remark that needs to be made concerns the life-cycle of a house. As

household composition changes over time, the needs and desires of that household

also changes. Because of this, it is entirely possible that the meaning of the

shrines, as well as the needs to which they responded evolved as well. It is also

interesting to note that there are several attested cases in the Roman world at this

time where sons and grandsons of slaves or freedmen were able to move up in the

social ranks and achieve prominent and respected positions previously only

available to free citizens. If this scenario were to occur in Delos, it is certainly

likely that the significance of the Lares Compitales shrines and their use would

change throughout the generations of such a family. There is no evidence, written

or otherwise, to suggest this has occurred at Delos, but it is important to note that

situations like this can arise which can drastically alter the meaning and practices

involved in a religious cult.

H) Future Research in Delian Lares Compitales Shrines

I must concede at this point that further research is necessary in order to confirm

or reject my interpretations of this cult. As I mentioned earlier in this section,

Greek and Roman religious practices were deeply embedded and interdependent

on the wider social, political, economic and cultural contexts of the society. While

it was not within the scope of this project to explicate fully the wider context of

Greek and Roman society, it would be beneficial for a future project to include a

more fully contextualized background. Furthermore, a project with a larger scope

could incorporate other potential fields of such as the affect that different periods

3
Crysta Leslie

of Delian history and its occupation by Athens and then Rome had on the

practices associated with the Lares Compitales cult. It would also be beneficial to

include an analysis focusing on Delos as a trade port and the affect that contact

with material culture and ideas from different parts of the Mediterranean world

would have on religious practices. Additionally, it was not within the scope of this

project to include iconographic and art historical analyses to the material remains

of the shrines and therefore this is another area that could be reinvestigated within

the framework I have established.

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