gēnius

gēnius, literally ‘the begetter’, in Roman belief a man's guardian spirit, which enabled him to beget children; the marriage-bed, lectus genialis, was its sphere. A household worshipped the genius of the house on the birthday of the paterfamilias, head of the family, in whom it was thought to reside. Its symbol was the house-snake; by many it was identified with the lar. The idea was extended so that places and even corporations might be said to have their own genius. We hear of a genius populi Romani, ‘genius of the Roman people’, and a genius urbis Romae, ‘genius of the city of Rome’, and the practice of slaves venerating the genius of their master led in imperial times to the cult of the emperor's genius. Although in the post-classical period the word sometimes refers to ‘talent’ or ‘inspiration’ in literature, it seems not to have had the senses it usually has in modern English, intellectual power of a very high order, or the person possessing it, or the prevalent spirit of a nation, age, language, etc. The corresponding spirit in women was known as Iuno (Juno).