ABSTRACT
Like every family, Rome had its Lares, Penates and focal hearth, but it needed a sacerdotal organisation and suitable places of worship. Temples or simple sacred areas, like the Volcanal at the foot of the Capitol, established a different form of piety from that of the domestic hearth, and involved the solidarity of the Romans in a ritual which, without upsetting that of the gens, transcended it to the benefit of national well-being.
