InRoman religion, thegenius (Latin:[ˈɡɛnɪ.ʊs];pl.:genii) is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing.[1] Much like aguardian angel, thegenius would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died.[2] For women, it was theJuno spirit that would accompany each of them.
Each individual place had agenius (genius loci) and so did powerful objects, such as volcanoes. The concept extended to some specifics: thegenius of the theatre, of vineyards, and of festivals, which made performances successful, grapes grow, and celebrations succeed, respectively. It was extremely important in the Roman mind to propitiate the appropriategenii for the major undertakings and events of their lives.
Thus man, following the dictates of his heart, venerated something higher and more divine than he could find in his own limited individuality, and brought to "this great unknown of himself" offerings as a god; thus compensating by veneration for the indistinct knowledge of his divine origin.[3]
The Christian theologianAugustine equated the Christiansoul with the Romangenius, citingVarro as attributing the rational powers and abilities of every human being to theirgenius.[4]
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Although the termgenius might apply to any divinity whatsoever, most of the higher-level and stategenii had their own well-established names.Genius applied most often to individual places or people not generally known; that is, to the smallest units of society and settlements, families and their homes. Houses, doors, gates, streets, districts, tribes, each one had its owngenius.[5] The supreme hierarchy of the Roman gods, like that of the Greeks, was modelled after a human family. It featured a father,Jupiter, who was also the supreme divine unity, and a mother,Juno, queen of the gods. These supreme unities were subdivided intogenii for each individual family; hence, thegenius of each female, representing the female reproductive power, was aJuno. The male power was aJupiter.[6]
TheJuno was venerated under many titles:
Genii were often viewed as protective spirits, as one would propitiate them for protection. For example, to protect infants one propitiated a number ofdeities concerned with birth and childrearing:Cuba ("lying down to sleep"),Cunina ("of the cradle") andRumina ("of breast-feeding").[7] Certainly, if thosegenii did not perform their proper function well, the infant would be in danger.
Hundreds oflararia, or family shrines, have been discovered atPompeii, typically off theatrium, kitchen or garden, where the smoke of burnt offerings could vent through the opening in the roof. Eachlararium features a panel fresco containing the same theme: two peripheral figures (Lares) attend on a central figure (familygenius) or two figures (genius andjuno) who may or may not be at an altar. In the foreground is one or two serpents crawling toward thegenius through a meadow motif.Campania andCalabria preserved an ancient practice of keeping a propitious house snake, here linked with thegenius.[8]
The English term isborrowed fromLatingenius, "household guardian spirit"; earlier, "innate male power of a race or clan", deriving from theIndo-European root *g̑enh₁-, "give birth, produce", which is also reflected in Latingignō, "give birth", andgēns, gentis, "tribe, people".[9][10]
Thegenius appears explicitly in Roman literature as early asPlautus, where one character jests that the father of another is so avaricious that he uses cheap Samian ware in sacrifices to his owngenius, so as not to tempt thegenius to steal it.[11] In this passage, thegenius is not identical to the person, as to propitiate oneself would be absurd, and yet thegenius also has the avarice of the person; that is, the same character, the implication being, like person, likegenius.
Horace, writing when the first emperor was introducing the cult of his owngenius, describes thegenius as "the companion which controls the natal star; the god of human nature, in that he is mortal for each person, with a changing expression, white or black".[12]
Octavius Caesar on return to Rome after the final victory of theRoman Civil War at theBattle of Actium appeared to the Senate to be a man of great power and success, clearly a mark of divinity. In recognition of the prodigy they voted that all banquets should include a libation to hisgenius. In concession to this sentiment he chose the nameAugustus, capturing the numinous meaning of English "august". The household cult of theGenius Augusti dates from this period. It was propitiated at every meal along with the other householdnumina.[13] Thus began the tradition of theRoman imperial cult, in which Romans cultivated thegenius of the emperor rather than the person.
If thegenius of theimperator, or commander of all troops, was to be propitiated, so was that of all the units under his command. The provincial troops expanded the idea of thegenii of state; for example, from Roman Britain have been found altars to thegenii ofRoma,Roma aeterna,Britannia, and to everylegion,cohors,ala andcenturia in Britain, as well as to thepraetorium of everycastra and even to thevexillae.[14] Inscriptional dedications togenius were not confined to the military. FromGallia Cisalpina under the empire are numerous dedications to thegenii of persons of authority and respect; in addition to the emperor'sgenius principis, were thegenii of patrons of freedmen, owners of slaves, patrons of guilds, philanthropists, officials, villages, other divinities, relatives and friends. Sometimes the dedication is combined with other words, such as "to the genius and honor" or in the case of couples, "to the genius and Juno".[15]
Surviving from the time of the empire hundreds of dedicatory, votive and sepulchral inscriptions ranging over the entire territory testify to the flourishing of official cult(cultus) ofgenius. Stock phrases were abbreviated: GPR,genio populi Romani ("to the genius of the Roman people"); GHL,genio huius loci ("to the genius of this place"); GDN,genio domini nostri ("to the genius of our master"), and so on. In 392 AD with the final victory of ChristianityTheodosius I declared the veneration of thegenii,Lares andPenates to be treason, ending their official terms.[16] The concept, however, continued in representation and speech under different names or with accepted modifications.
Thegenius of a corporate social body is often acameo theme on ancient coins: adenarius from Spain, 76–75 BC, featuring a bust of theGPR (Genius Populi Romani, "Genius of the Roman People") on theobverse;[17] anaureus ofSiscia inCroatia, 270–275 AD, featuring a standing image of theGENIUS ILLVR (Genius Exercitus Illyriciani,[18] "Genius of the Illyrian Army") on the reverse;[19] anaureus of Rome, 134–138 AD, with an image of a youth holding acornucopia andpatera (sacrificial dish) and the inscription GENIOPR,genio populi Romani, "to thegenius of the Roman people", on the reverse.[20]
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Varro says that a 'genius' is the rational soul of each man ... and that the soul of the world itself is a universal 'genius', and that this is what they call Jupiter.
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