Genius (mythology)

The Genius (pl. genii or Latin Genii ) was in the Roman religion of personal protective spirit of a man and an expression of his personality, his fate determination and in particular its generative power. With the death of the man went out of the genius.

Originally the genii ancestral spirits who watch over their descendants. From these guardian spirits, whom they sacrificed and of which it was hoped would help and inspiration in difficult life developed. The festival of the Genius was the birthday of the wearer.

Since the Genius was seen as a kind of principle of action, other collectives such as units and colleges, but also places ( genius loci ) as provinces, cities, markets and theater could have a genius. From then until the overarching Genius of Rome ( Genius urbis Romae and genius populi Romani ) is only one step. In the imperial cult, including the Genius Augusti was worshiped.

The Genius corresponded in the Aramaic language gny ', vocalized ginnaya (plural ginnayē ). These were comparable protective spirits that were thought as human beings and often approached in pairs in northern Arabia. At the time, they resembled the Arabic idea of ​​the jinn. Both terms referred originally full-fledged deities, they were worshiped as such, or at least as ministering angels and sheltered. The epithet SBB "( " close, near " ) alludes to the guarding function of ginnayē to. Only under the influence of Islam, the jinn were degraded to spirits with rather little use.

The genius was represented mostly bearded ( in later times as a boy ), stripped to the waist, usually a cornucopia and patera. The genius loci often appears in the form of a snake. In Roman art genii are represented as winged creatures.

The male equivalent to the female Genius Juno. The Roman Genius corresponds to the Greek Daimon.

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