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Numen (pluralnumina) is aLatin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will". The Latin authors defined it as follows:[1]Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (divina mens), a god "whose numen everything obeys", and a "divine power" (vis divina) "which pervades the lives of men". It causes the motions and cries of birds duringaugury.[2] InVirgil's recounting of the blinding of the one-eyedgiant,Polyphemus, from theOdyssey, in hisAeneid, he hasOdysseus and his men first "ask for the assistance of the great numina" (magna precati numina).[3] Reviewing public opinion ofAugustus on the day of his funeral, the historianTacitus reports that some thought "no honor was left to the gods" when he "established the cult of himself" (se ... coli vellet) "with temples and the effigies of numina" (effigie numinum).[4]Pliny the Younger in a letter to Paternus raves about the "power", the "dignity", and "the majesty"; in short, the "numen of history".[5]Lucretius uses the expressionnumen mentis,[6] or "bidding of the mind",[7] where "bidding" isnumen, not, however, the divine numen, unless the mind is to be considered divine, but as simply human will.[1]
Since the early 20th century, numen has sometimes been treated in thehistory of religion as apre-animistic phase; that is, a belief system inherited from an earlier time.Numen is also used bysociologists to refer to the idea ofmagical power residing in anobject, particularly when writing about ideas in the Western tradition.
When used in this sense,numen is nearly synonymous withmana. However, some authors reserve use ofmana for ideas about magic fromPolynesia andSoutheast Asia.
Etymologically, the word means "a nod of the head", here referring to adeity as it were "nodding", or making its will or its presence known. According toH. J. Rose:
The literal meaning is simply "a nod", or more accurately, for it is a passive formation, "that which is produced by nodding", just asflamen is "that which is produced by blowing",i.e., a gust of wind. It came to mean "the product or expression of power" — not, be it noted, power itself.[8]
Thus,numen (divinity) is not personified (although it can be a personal attribute) and should be distinguished fromdeus (god).[9]
Numen was also used in theimperial cult of ancient Rome, to refer to theguardian-spirit, 'godhead' or divine power of a living emperor—in other words, a means of worshiping a living emperor without literally calling him a god.[9]
Thecult ofAugustus was promoted byTiberius, who dedicated theAra Numinis Augusti.[10]In this context, a distinction can be made between the termsnumen andgenius.[11]
The expressionNumen inest appears inOvid'sFasti (III, 296) and has been translated as "There is a spirit here".[12] Its interpretation, and in particular the exact sense ofnumen has been discussed extensively in the literature.[13]
The supposition that anuminous presence in the natural world supposed in the earliest layers ofItalic religion, as it were an "animistic" element left over in historical Roman religion and especially in the etymology of Latin theonyms, has often been popularly implied, but was criticised as "mostly a scholarly fiction" by McGeough (2004).[14]
The phrase "numen eris caeloque redux mirabere regna" appears on line 129 of the poemMetrum in Genesin,[15] attributed toHilary of Arles.[16]
