PENATES were Roman deities who were supposed to preside over families and houses. Cicero ("Do Nat. Door.,' ii. 27) derives the word either from penes," food," or pcnitus, " innermost; " but it appears probable that the latter etymology is the more correct. We learn from Festus (Penns) that the inner part of the temple of Vesta was called Perms, which seems to be connected with pen ales, penetrare, and penetralia. The hearth of the atrium was sacred to the Penates; and as this place was the innermost or most important part of the house, it was called the Penetralia. There appears sometimes to have been a kind of recess in the wall, called racrarium, iu which the images of the Penates were kept. (Cie. in d Vern,' iv. 2 ; Dig.; L, tit. 8,5. 9.) A fire was always kept burning on the hearth sacred to the pennies; a saltcellar dedicated to them was placed on the dinner-table, and the meal concluded with a libation to them. Every master of a family was the priest to the Pcnates of his own house.
It is a matter of some difficulty to determine who the Penates were ; but there is no reason for believing that they were the same in every family. Some writers have thought the Lazes and Penates to be the same, and it would appear that the Larca were included among the Penates. The Lams however were of human origin, and appear to have been regarded by the Romans as the manes of their ancestors [Lanes]; while among the Penates we find mention of the superior gods, as Vesta, Jupiter, and Juno. (Festus, s. v. • Herceus.) There were also public Penates. who were supposed to have been brought by :Eneas from Troy. They were represented as two young men with spears in their hands, and the temple or chapel in which they were worshipped was in the centre of the city, not far from the temple of Vesta. (Dimly's., 1. 68; Cie., De Nat. Deor.,' ii. 27; Liv., xlv. 16.) (Hartung, Die Religion der Romer ; Klausen, "Eneasund die Penaten ; Barker, Dares and Penates.)