Sacred architecture and imperial cult at the Forum of Pompeii: the Sanctuary of the Public Lares reconsidered

This paper is part of a broader investigation into the public monuments of the Forum of Pompeii. The contribution offers a comprehensive reassessment of the Sanctuary of the Public Lares, one of the most architecturally distinctive and sophisticated monuments in the Forum of Pompeii, characterized by the presence of an apse, exedras, and aediculae hosting a rich statuary programme. Following a detailed analysis of the preserved architectural remains, the discussion turns to the topographic, stratigraphic, and epigraphic evidence, advancing an Augustan-Tiberian date for the sanctuary. This chronology is supported by the building’s alignment with earlier Forum structures, its physical junctions with adjacent monuments, and the evidence provided by stamped bricks and wall decoration. Particular attention is dedicated to the function of the sanctuary and its connection with the imperial cult, based on a critical re-evaluation of the controversial inscription of Mamia and the relief from the house of L. Caecilius Iucundus. These sources lend support to the hypothesis that the Sanctuary, rather than the later Temple of the Genius Augusti, originally housed the public cult of the Genius and Lares Augusti.