The two chief seats of his worship were Ur in the S., and Harran considerably to the N., but the cult at an early period spread to other centres, and temples to the moon-god are found in all the large cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
Janus, the god of the door, comes undoubtedly first, though unfortunately we know but little of his worship in the household, except that it was the concern of the men.
The Lar familiaris has been regarded' as the embodiment of all the family dead and his cult as a consummation of ancestor-worship, but a more probable explanation regards him as one of the Lares (q.v.; numina of the fields worshipped at the compita, the places where properties marched) who had special charge of the house or possibly of the household servants (familia); for it is significant that his worship was committed to the charge of the vilica.
The ceremonies of his worship were of the most bloodthirsty character, and hundreds of human beings were murdered annually before his shrine, their limbs being eaten by his worshippers.
By Manetho his worship is said to have been instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty.
