Manes
Template:Short description Template:Ancient Roman religion
In ancient Roman religion, the Manes (Template:IPAc-en, Template:Langx, Template:IPA) or Di Manes are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the Lares, Lemures, Genii, and Di Penates as deities (di) that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category of di inferi, "those who dwell below",[1] the undifferentiated collective of divine dead.[2] The Manes were honored during the Parentalia and Feralia in February.
The theologian St. 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:
Latin spells of antiquity were often addressed to the Manes.[3]
Etymology and inscriptions
Manes may be derived from "an archaic adjective manus—good—which was the opposite of immanis (monstrous)".[4]
Roman tombstones often included the letters D.M., which stood for Dis Manibus, literally "to the Manes",[5] or figuratively, "to the spirits of the dead", an abbreviation that continued to appear even in Christian inscriptions.
The Manes were offered blood sacrifices. The gladiatorial games, originally held at funerals, may have been instituted in the honor of the Manes. According to Cicero, the Manes could be called forth from the caves near Lake Avernus.[4]
Lapis manalis
When a new town was founded, a round hole would be dug and a stone called a lapis manalis would be placed in the foundations, representing a gate to the underworld.[4] Due to similar names, the lapis manalis is often confused with the lapis manilis in commentaries even in antiquity: "The 'flowing stone' … must not be confused with the stone of the same name which, according to Festus, was the gateway to the underworld."[6]
See also
References
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Further reading
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