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[[File:Woman mirror tambourine MBA Lyon L631.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Winged genius facing a woman with a tambourine and mirror, from southern Italy, about 320 BC]]
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]], the '''genius''' ({{IPA|la|ˈɡɛnɪ.ʊs|lang}}; {{plural form}}: ''genii'') is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=genius|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2319459|encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary|first1=Charlton T. |last1=Lewis|first2=Charles |last2=Short|publisher=Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University|location=Meford, MA|year=2009|access-date=1 July 2009}}</ref> Much like a [[guardian angel]], the ''genius'' would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died.<ref>Mary Ann Dwight [https://books.google.com/books?id=S4XRAAAAMAAJ&dq=genius%20roman%20mythology&pg=PA253 ''Grecian and Roman Mythology'' p.253]</ref> For women, it was the [[Juno (mythology)|Juno spirit]] that would accompany each of them.

==Nature==
Each individual place had a ''genius'' (''[[genius loci]]'') and so did powerful objects, such as volcanoes. The concept extended to some specifics: the ''genius'' 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 appropriate ''genii'' for the major undertakings and events of their lives. 

<blockquote> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Ann Dwight|title=Grecian and Roman Mythology|page=[https://archive.org/details/grecianandroman02dwiggoog/page/n188/mode/2up 183]|publisher=HardPress |isbn=978-1314004731}}</ref> </blockquote>

The Christian theologian [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] equated the Christian [[soul]] with the Roman ''genius'', citing [[Varro]] as attributing the rational powers and abilities of every human being to their ''genius''.<ref>{{cite book|author=St. Augustine|editor-first=R.W|editor-last=Dyson|title=The City of God against the Pagans|page=[https://archive.org/details/concerningcityof00augu_0/page/284 284]|chapter=VII.13|year=2003 |publisher=Penguin Books |quote=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.|isbn=0-14-044894-2|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/concerningcityof00augu_0/page/284}}</ref>

==Specific genii==
[[File:Genio romano de Ponte Puñide (M.A.N. 1928-60-1) 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Bronze genius depicted as ''[[pater familias]]'' (1st century AD)]]
Although the term ''genius'' might apply to any divinity whatsoever, most of the higher-level and state ''genii'' 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 own ''genius''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Rome: Gods by Conquest|first=P.|last=Grimal|encyclopedia=Larousse World Mythology|year=1965|publisher=The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited|page=181}}</ref> The supreme hierarchy of the Roman gods, like that of the Greeks, was modelled after a human family. It featured a father, [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], who was also the supreme divine unity, and a mother, [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], queen of the gods. These supreme unities were subdivided into ''genii'' for each individual family; hence, the ''genius'' of each female, representing the female reproductive power, was a ''Juno''. The male power was a ''Jupiter''.<ref>{{cite book|page=291|title=The Mythology of All Races|editor-first=Louis Herbert|editor-last=Gray|editor2-first=George Foot|editor2-last=Moore|volume=I Greek and Roman|first=William Sherwood|last=Fox|publisher=Marshall Jones Company|year=1916|location=Boston|isbn=0-8154-0073-X}}</ref>

The ''Juno'' was venerated under many titles:
*''Iugalis'', "of marriage"
*''Matronalis'', "of married women"
*''Pronuba'', "of brides"
*''Virginalis'', "of virginity"

''Genii'' were often viewed as protective spirits, as one would propitiate them for protection. For example, to protect infants one propitiated a number of [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities|deities concerned with birth and childrearing]]: ''Cuba'' ("lying down to sleep"), ''Cunina'' ("of the cradle") and ''Rumina'' ("of breast-feeding").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Cuba |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0909.html |first=Leonhard |last=Schmitz |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |editor-first=William |editor-last=Smith |volume=1 |page=900 |date=2005|orig-year=1867 |publisher=Little, Brown & Company, The Ancient Library |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514090503/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0909.html |archive-date=14 May 2011}}</ref> Certainly, if those ''genii'' did not perform their proper function well, the infant would be in danger.

Hundreds of ''[[Lares#Lararia|lararia]]'', or family shrines, have been discovered at [[Pompeii]], typically off the [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]], kitchen or garden, where the smoke of burnt offerings could vent through the opening in the roof. Each ''lararium'' features a panel fresco containing the same theme: two peripheral figures ([[Lares]]) attend on a central figure (family ''genius'') or two figures (''genius'' and ''juno'') who may or may not be at an altar. In the foreground is one or two serpents crawling toward the ''genius'' through a meadow motif. [[Campania]] and [[Calabria]] preserved an ancient practice of keeping a propitious house snake, here linked with the ''genius''.<ref>{{Cite book|first=David Gerald|last=Orr|title=Roman Domestic Religion: The Archaeology of Roman Popular Art|editor-first=Ray Broadus|editor-last=Browne|work=Rituals and Ceremonies in Popular Culture|location=Bowling Green, Ohio|publisher=Bowling Green University Popular Press|year=1980|pages=88–103}}</ref>

==History of the concept==

===Origin===
[[File:Vindobona Hoher Markt-92.JPG|thumb|upright|Head of a genius wearing a ''[[Modius (headdress)|modius]]'', found at [[Vindobona]], the Roman military camp in [[Pannonia]] (2nd century AD)]]
The English term is [[Loanword|borrowed]] from [[Latin]] ''[[wikt:en:genius#Latin|genius]],'' "household guardian spirit"; earlier, "innate male power of a race or clan", deriving from the [[Indo-European language|Indo-European]] root *g̑enh₁-, "give birth, produce", which is also reflected in Latin ''gignō'', "give birth", and ''[[wikt:en:gens#Latin|gēns]], gentis'', "tribe, people".<ref>
{{cite encyclopedia
    | title=Genius
    | url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=g&p=3|encyclopedia=Online Etymological Dictionary
    | access-date=2 July 2009
    | year=2001
    | first=Douglas
    | last=Harper
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
    | url=                       http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dgens
    | title=                     gens
    | date=                     1879  <!--  Publishing date (where this is stated on the page)  -->
    | last=                      Lewis  <!--  Author's last name (use for a person)  -->
    | first=                     Charlton T.  <!--  Author's forename(s) / initials (use for a person)  -->
    | author-link=           Charlton T. Lewis  <!--  Link to author's Wikipedia article (if any)  -->
    | last2=                    Short  <!--  . .  -->
    | first2=                   Charles  <!--  . .  -->
    | author-link2=         Charles Short
    | work=                   A Latin Dictionary  <!--  (name of website or section of website, etc.)	  -->
    | publisher=            Perseus Digital Library
    | access-date=         8 March 2019  <!--  Date you reviewed the source (blank this if the publishing date is cited above)	-->
    }}
</ref>

The ''genius'' appears explicitly in Roman literature as early as [[Plautus]], where one character jests that the father of another is so avaricious that he uses cheap Samian ware in sacrifices to his own ''genius'', so as not to tempt the ''genius'' to steal it.<ref>Plautus, ''[[Captivi]]'' 2.2.</ref> In this passage, the ''genius'' is not identical to the person, as to propitiate oneself would be absurd, and yet the ''genius'' also has the avarice of the person; that is, the same character, the implication being, like person, like ''genius''.

[[Horace]], writing when the first emperor was introducing the cult of his own ''genius'', describes the ''genius'' 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".<ref>Horace, ''Epistles'', II, 2, 187-189.</ref>

===Imperial genii===
[[File:Genius Domitian Musei Capitolini MC1130.jpg|thumb|upright|Genius of [[Domitian]]]]
[[Octavius Caesar]] on return to Rome after the final victory of the [[Roman Civil War]] at the [[Battle 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 his ''genius''. In concession to this sentiment he chose the name [[Augustus]], capturing the numinous meaning of English "august". The household cult of the ''Genius Augusti'' dates from this period. It was propitiated at every meal along with the other household ''numina''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fishwick|first=Duncan|title=The imperial cult in the Latin West: studies in the ruler cult of the western provinces of the Roman Empire|publisher=E.J. Brill|location=Leiden; New York |date=1987–2005|volume=2 Part 1|pages=375–377|isbn=90-04-07179-2}}</ref> Thus began the tradition of the [[Roman imperial cult]], in which Romans cultivated the ''genius'' of the emperor rather than the person.

[[File:GenioLVIIGEM.jpg|thumb|left|Inscription on votive altar to the genius of [[Legio VII Gemina]] by L. Attius Macro ([[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]] II 5083)]]
If the ''genius'' of the ''[[imperator]]'', 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 the ''genii'' of state; for example, from Roman Britain have been found altars to the ''genii'' of ''Roma'', ''Roma aeterna'', ''Britannia'', and to every ''[[Roman legion|legion]]'', ''[[Cohort (military unit)|cohors]]'', ''[[Ala (Roman military)|ala]]'' and ''[[centuria]]'' in Britain, as well as to the ''[[praetorium]]'' of every ''[[castra]]'' and even to the ''[[Vexillatio|vexillae]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Roman Era in Britain|first=John |last=Ward|publisher=Methuen & Co. Ltd.; LacusCurtius, University of Chicago|location=London, Chicago|orig-year=1911|year=2003|chapter=Chapter VI Religions of Roman Britain|chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/_Periods/Roman/_Texts/WARREB/6*.html|pages=102–103}}</ref> Inscriptional dedications to ''genius'' were not confined to the military. From [[Gallia Cisalpina]] under the empire are numerous dedications to the ''genii'' of persons of authority and respect; in addition to the emperor's ''genius principis'', were the ''genii'' 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".<ref>{{cite book|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cultscisalpineg00murlgoog/page/n32 19]–24|title=The cults of Cisalpine Gaul as seen in the inscriptions|url=https://archive.org/details/cultscisalpineg00murlgoog|first=Joseph Clyde |last=Murley|publisher=George Banta Publishing Company|location=Menasha Wisconsin|year=1922}}</ref>

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 ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#cultus|cultus]]'') of ''genius''. 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 Christianity [[Theodosius I]] declared the veneration of the ''genii'', [[Lares]] and [[Penates]] to be treason, ending their official terms.<ref>{{cite book|page=165|title=History of Rome and the Roman people|first=Victor |last=Duruy|editor-first=John Pentland |editor-last=Mahaffy|volume=IV|publisher=Dana Estes & Charles E. Lauriat|location=Boston|year=1885|isbn=1-4325-5089-6}} The authors cite [[Codex Theodosianus]] XVI.x.xii.</ref> The concept, however, continued in representation and speech under different names or with accepted modifications.

==Roman iconography==

===Coins===
The ''genius'' of a corporate social body is often a [[Cameo (carving)|cameo]] theme on ancient coins: a [[denarius]] from Spain, 76–75 BC, featuring a bust of the ''GPR'' (''Genius Populi Romani'', "''Genius'' of the Roman People") on the [[obverse]];<ref>{{cite web|title=Bust of Genius Populi Romani, Illustration of Boston 42.527|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/image?img=1997.03.0155|publisher=Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University|location=Medford|year=1998|access-date=2 July 2009}}</ref> an [[aureus]] of [[Siscia]] in [[Croatia]], 270–275 AD, featuring a standing image of the ''GENIUS ILLVR'' (''Genius Exercitus Illyriciani'',<ref>{{cite book|page=1379|title=Lexicon Universae Rei Numariae Veterum et Praecipue Graecorum ac Romanorum|editor-first=Christopher|editor-last=Rasche|publisher=Libraria Gleditschia|year=1785|volume=2 Part 1}}</ref> "''Genius'' of the Illyrian Army") on the reverse;<ref>{{cite web|title=Genius, wearing modius on head, holding a wreath; military standard at right, Illustration of Boston 66.426|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=1997.03.1402|publisher=Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University|location=Medford|year=1998|access-date=2 July 2009}}</ref> an [[aureus]] of Rome, 134–138 AD, with an image of a youth holding a ''cornucopia'' and ''patera'' (sacrificial dish) and the inscription GENIOPR, ''genio populi Romani'', "to the ''genius'' of the Roman people", on the reverse.<ref>{{cite web|title=Reverse: Genius standing: Illustration of Boston 1974.521|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=1997.03.0642|publisher=Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University|location=Medford|year=1998|access-date=12 July 2009}}</ref>
{{Gallery
|title=
|width=
|lines=
|File:Lararium Pompeji Detail.JPG|Scene from ''lararium'', Pompeii
|File:August Pio-Clementino Inv259.jpg|''Genius'' of [[Augustus]]
|File:Antonius Pius Column Base.JPG|''Genius'' of [[Antoninus Pius]]
|File:Winged genius Boscoreale Louvre P23.jpg|Unknown Roman ''genius'' near Pompeii, 1st century BC
|File:Pompei - House of Iulius Polybius - Lararium.jpg|''Lararium'' with small, central ancestral ''genius'' figure flanked by [[Lares]], above a serpent-''genius'' representing fertility. House of Iulius Polybius, Pompeii.
|File:Vettii.jpg|Ancestral ''genius'' (upper centre) flanked by ''Lares'', with serpent below. ''Lararium'', [[House of the Vettii]] Pompeii.
|File:Pompeii - Casa del Centenario - MAN.jpg|[[Bacchus]] clad with grapes, and a serpentine [[Agathodaemon|Agathodaimon]] ("good divinity"), ''genius'' of the soil around Vesuvius
}}

==Modern-era representations==
<gallery heights="180" widths="150">
File:Meister des Rosenromans 001.jpg|''Genius'' of love, Meister des Rosenromans, {{circa|1420–1430}}
File:Firenze.Palvecchio.500.Michelangelo2.JPG|''Genius'' of victory, [[Michelangelo]], 1532–34
File:Fontana del genio.jpg|Genius of [[Palermo]], [[Ignazio Marabitti]], {{circa|1778}}
File:Genius of Liberty Dumont July Column.jpg|''Genius'' of liberty, [[Augustin Dumont]], 1840
File:Vigée-Lebrun, Marie Louise Elisabeth - The Genius of Alexander.jpg|''Genius'' of Alexander, [[Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun]], 1814
File:Mausoleo del Marqués del Duero 03.jpg|''Genius'' of war, Elías Martín, 19th century
File:Paris Arc de Triomphe 03.jpg|''Genius'' of the resistance, [[Antoine Etex]], 1833–36
File:DemGeniusBeethovens.jpg|''Genius'' of [[Beethoven]]
File:Adolphe Yvon - Genius of America.jpg|''Genius'' of America, [[Adolphe Yvon]], 1858
File:Kreuzbergdenkmal - Prinzessin Charlotte - Mutter Erde fec.jpg|''Genius'' of the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|Peace of Paris]], [[Christian Daniel Rauch|Chr. Dan. Rauch]]
File:Genius sculpture by Carl Milles 2009 Stockholm (1).jpg|''Genius'', [[Carl Milles]], 1932–40
File:Genius van de schilderkunst.jpg|alt=''Genius'' of painting by Geo Verbanck, 1912, Monument in honour of the Van Eyck brothers - backside, Ghent, Belgium|''Genius'' of painting, [[Geo Verbanck]], 1912, monument in honour of the Van Eyck brothers – backside, Ghent, Belgium
</gallery>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} 
* [[Daimon|Daemon]]
* [[Di Penates]]
* [[Holy Guardian Angel]]
* [[Jinn]]
* [[Kami]]
* [[Qareen]]
* [[Religion in ancient Rome]]
* [[Tutelary deity]]
* [[Wisdom]]
* [[Yidam]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=Grecian and Roman mythology|url=https://archive.org/details/grecianandroman02dwiggoog|first=Mary Ann|last=Dwight|chapter=Genii and Inferior Deities|location=New York|year=1860|publisher=A.S. Barnes & Burr|isbn=0-524-02016-7}}
* {{cite book|title=Roman Ideas of Deity in the Last Century before the Christian Era - Lectures Delivered in Oxford for the Common University Fund|first=W. Warde |last=Fowler|publisher=Holyoake Press|year=2007|isbn= 978-1-4067-6774-2|chapter=Lecture I: Sketch of the Course: Domestic Deities
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Genius}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Genius |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1349.html |first=Leonhard |last=Schmitz |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |editor-first=William |editor-last=Smith |volume=2 |pages=241–242 |orig-year=1867 |year=2005 |publisher=Little, Brown & Company, The Ancient Library |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090623003106/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1349.html |archive-date=23 June 2009}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|title=Genius, Genii (Roman mythology)|url=http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Brewer-DictionaryOfPhraseAndFable/g/genius-genii.html|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Phrase and Fable|editor-first=E. Cobham|editor-last=Brewer|orig-year=1894|year=2009|publisher=fromoldbooks.org|access-date=3 July 2009}}

{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Ancient Roman religion]]
[[Category:Roman deities]]
[[Category:Tutelary deities]]