Morphologies of Sacra Privata in the Roman House: Architecture, Furnishings, Cults

The article proposes an examination of the concept of private sacredness in the Roman world, understood as that set of actions, creeds, and cultic and ritual practices enacted in the domestic sphere by the inhabitants of urban and country homes. Through the enunciation of the elements necessary for the study of this phenomenon, a number of questions are proposed, ranging from the identification of the terminology used to define domestic religiosity, to the methodology necessary for a recognition and classification of the indicators of private worship, to the analysis of some case studies exemplifying the dynamics underlying cult practices and the dynamics of self-representation on the part of the dominus and his family.