Origin '', found at
Vindobona, the Roman military camp in
Pannonia (2nd century AD) The English term is
borrowed from
Latin genius, "household guardian spirit"; earlier, "innate male power of a race or clan", deriving from the
Indo-European root *g̑enh₁-, "give birth, produce", which is also reflected in Latin
gignō, "give birth", and
gēns, gentis, "tribe, people". 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. 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".
Imperial genii 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. Thus began the tradition of the
Roman imperial cult, in which Romans cultivated the
genius of the emperor rather than the person. by L. Attius Macro (
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
legion,
cohors,
ala and
centuria in Britain, as well as to the
praetorium of every
castra and even to the
vexillae. 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". 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) 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. The concept, however, continued in representation and speech under different names or with accepted modifications. ==Roman iconography==