Manes
| Religion in ancient Rome |
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Inancient Roman religion,theManes(/ˈmeɪniːz/,Latin:mānēs,Classical Latin:[ˈmaː.neːs̠]) orDi Manesarechthonicdeities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with theLares,Lemures,Genii,andDi Penatesas deities (di) that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category ofdi inferi,"those who dwell below",[1]the undifferentiated collective of divine dead.[2]The Manes were honored during theParentaliaandFeraliain February.
The theologianSt. Augustine,writing about the subject a few centuries after most of the Latin pagan references to such spirits, differentiated Manes from other types of Roman spirits:
Apuleius"says, indeed, that the souls of men are demons, and that men becomeLaresif they are good,LemuresorLarvaeif they are bad, andManesif it is uncertain whether they deserve well or ill... He also states that the blessed are called in Greek εὐδαίμονες [eudaimones], because they are good souls, that is to say, good demons, confirming his opinion that the souls of men are demons. "
— City of God, Book IX, Chapter 11[3]
Latin spells of antiquity were often addressed to the Manes.[4]
Etymology and inscriptions
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Manes may be derived from "an archaic adjective manus—good—which was the opposite of immanis (monstrous) ".[5]
Roman tombstones often included the lettersD.M.,which stood forDis Manibus,literally "to the Manes",[6]or figuratively, "to the spirits of the dead", an abbreviation that continued to appear even in Christian inscriptions.
The Manes were offered blood sacrifices. Thegladiatorial games,originally held at funerals, may have been instituted in the honor of the Manes. According toCicero,theManescould be called forth from the caves nearLake Avernus.[5]
Lapis manalis
[edit]When a new town was founded, a round hole would be dug and a stone called alapis manaliswould be placed in the foundations, representing a gate tothe underworld.[5]Due to similar names, thelapis manalisis often confused with thelapis manilisin commentaries even in antiquity: "The 'flowing stone'… must not be confused with the stone of the same name which, according toFestus,was the gateway to the underworld. "[7]
Of this we have a characteristic example in the ceremony of theaquaelicium,designed to produce rain after a long drought. In classical times the ceremony consisted in a procession headed by thepontifices,which bore the sacredrain-stonefrom its resting-place by thePorta Capenato theCapitol,where offerings were made to the sky-deity, Iuppiter, but from the analogy of other primitive cults and the sacred title of the stone (lapis manalis), it is practically certain that the original ritual was the purely imitative process of pouring water over the stone.
— Cyril Bailey,The Religion of Ancient Rome[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Varro(1938). "6.13".De Lingua Latina.Translated by Kent, Roland G. London: W. Heinemann. pp. 185–7.
- ^Gagarin, Michael, ed. (2010). "Death".The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome.Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. p. 366.ISBN9780195170726.
- ^St. Augustine of Hippo(1871).City of God.Vol. 1. Translated by Rev. Marcus Dods, M.A. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. p. 365.Retrieved2016-09-15.
- ^Gager, John G. (1992).Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World.Oxford University Press US. pp. 12–13.ISBN978-0-19-513482-7.Retrieved2010-08-22.
- ^abcGuirand, Felix, ed. (1968). "The Manes".New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology.Translated byAldington, Richard;Ames, Delano.Fetham, Middlesex, England: The Hamlyn Publishing Group. p.213.
- ^King, Charles W. (2020).The Ancient Roman Afterlife: Di Manes, Belief, and the Cult of the Dead.Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. pp. 2–3.doi:10.7560/320204.ISBN978-1-4773-2020-4.
- ^Burriss, Eli Edward (1931).Taboo, Magic, Spirits: A Study of Primitive Elements in Roman Religion.New York: Macmillan Company. p. 365.Retrieved2007-08-21.
- ^Bailey, Cyril (1907).The Religion of Ancient Rome.London: Archibald Constable & Co. p. 5.Retrieved2007-08-21.
Further reading
[edit]- King, Charles W. (2020).The Ancient Roman Afterlife: Di Manes, Belief, and the Cult of the Dead.Austin: University of Texas Press.doi:10.7560/320204.ISBN978-1-4773-2020-4.